Of all the companies we track, none depends on one customer more than the company that builds the Navy's aircraft carriers. Huntington Ingalls, which owns the Newport News and Ingalls shipyards, reported that 99.9% of its FY2025 revenue came from federal customers. Over the five years we have reviewed, the figure never fell below 99.5%.
General Dynamics looks more diversified, at 68% of revenue from the U.S. government, because it also makes Gulfstream business jets. But its shipyards are as tied to the Navy as HII's. In federal fiscal year 2025, the Navy awarded 72.5% of the prime contract obligations we matched to General Dynamics, and 84.4% of those matched to HII.
Where the money goes
General Dynamics' Electric Boat yard, which builds submarines, received $21.4B in prime contract obligations in federal fiscal year 2025. That is more than the $11.0B we matched to all of Huntington Ingalls in the same year. Its other shipyards, Bath Iron Works ($2.37B), NASSCO in San Diego ($550M) and the Metro Machine repair yard ($545M), bring General Dynamics' shipbuilding total to $24.8B, 69.3% of all the obligations we matched to the company.
At Huntington Ingalls, the shipbuilding companies received $8.57B, and its services and technology units another $2.41B.
| Shipyard or unit | Parent | Obligations, FFY2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Electric Boat | General Dynamics | $21.4B |
| Bath Iron Works | General Dynamics | $2.37B |
| NASSCO | General Dynamics | $550M |
| Metro Machine | General Dynamics | $545M |
| Newport News and Ingalls shipbuilding | Huntington Ingalls | $8.57B |
| HII services and technology units | Huntington Ingalls | $2.41B |
Huntington Ingalls: obligations by awarding agency, FFY2025
Top awarding sub-agencies; the rest grouped as Other.
Show the data as a table
| Agency | Obligations | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Department of the Navy | $9.48B | 84.4% |
| Federal Acquisition Service | $879M | 7.8% |
| Department of the Air Force | $800M | 7.1% |
| Department of the Army | $43.1M | 0.4% |
| Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency | $13.1M | 0.1% |
| Defense Threat Reduction Agency | $4.9M | 0% |
| Washington Headquarters Services | $4.1M | 0% |
| Missile Defense Agency | $2.9M | 0% |
| Other | $3.1M | 0% |
The contracts behind it
The largest active contracts are measured in tens of billions and run for a decade or more. Long-lead material for two Virginia-class attack submarines (N0002417C2100) carries $35.7B in obligations to date, and design completion for the Columbia-class ballistic missile submarine (N0002417C2117) $31.5B. At Newport News, engineering and steel for the aircraft carrier CVN 80 (N0002416C2116) carries $13.4B; at Ingalls, the multi-year contract for DDG 51 destroyers (N0002423C2307) $8.32B, and long-lead material for the amphibious ship LPD 30 (N0002418C2406) $4.73B.
Contracts like these are funded in increments as construction proceeds, so a single year's obligations rise and fall with the Navy's budget cycle rather than with the shipyards' output. For HII, a year of matched obligations came to 0.88 times its reported revenue; for General Dynamics as a whole, 1.00.
The supply chain
The shipyards are the most visible part of a longer chain. BWX Technologies, which makes nuclear reactor components for Navy submarines and carriers, reports 68% of its revenue from the U.S. government. Its own contract record is hard to match to its revenue, and we show that comparison as under review. Many other suppliers sell to the shipyards rather than to the Navy, so their federal exposure does not appear in the prime contract record at all.
What it means
For Huntington Ingalls, there is effectively one customer. Its results move with Navy shipbuilding budgets, the timing of appropriations and the pace of multi-year procurement decisions. For General Dynamics, the same is true of its Marine Systems business, which sits alongside aerospace and technology units with other customers. Both companies' full figures, sources and matched shipyards are on their profiles: Huntington Ingalls and General Dynamics.