NEWPORT NEWS, Va., Jan. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE: HII) announced today that it has acquired the autonomy business of Spatial Integrated Systems Inc. (SIS). The acquisition further expands HII’s unmanned systems capabilities with this highly skilled team and proven unmanned surface vessel (USV) solutions.

“We are excited to welcome the SIS autonomy business employees to the HII family,” said Andy Green, HII executive vice president and president of Technical Solutions. “2020 was a significant year for HII in the unmanned systems industry, and this acquisition is the perfect complement to our existing portfolio and strategic partnerships.”

“I am pleased that HII will carry on SIS’s vision to deliver advanced autonomy to our armed forces in support of our national interest,” said Dr. Ali Farsaie, CEO and founder of SIS.

SIS’s unmanned systems solutions — including multi-vehicle collaborative autonomy, sensor fusion and perception — have been fielded for more than 6,000 hours on 23 vessel types. They have supported multiple development projects and demonstrations advancing autonomy in unmanned systems in the maritime, ground and air domains.

A photo accompanying this release is available at: https://newsroom.huntingtoningalls.com/file/spatial-integrated-systems.

“SIS is a leader in autonomous technology, and this acquisition adds significant breadth to our unmanned systems solutions,” said Duane Fotheringham, president of Technical Solutions’ Unmanned Systems business group. “This technology and the talented team provide unmatched capabilities in multi-domain collaborative autonomy and perception, allowing HII to uniquely address our customers’ needs.”

SIS’s solutions are actively in use throughout the Department of Defense, coordinating and controlling multiple collaborative unmanned vehicles in the execution of mission applications including intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, harbor patrol, high value unit escort missions, payload delivery, mine clearance, and transporting supplies. SIS’s intelligent, goal-oriented USV solutions follow Unmanned Maritime Autonomy Architecture standards and integrate proven obstacle avoidance and International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea-compliant behaviors.

The acquisition of SIS’s autonomy business follows other recent unmanned systems activity by HII, including the acquisition of Hydroid, a strategic alliance with Kongsberg Maritime, an equity investment in Sea Machines, and the groundbreaking on a new HII Unmanned Systems Center of Excellence in Hampton, Virginia.

The transaction closed on Dec. 31, 2020 and approximately 50 employees from SIS, primarily located in Virginia Beach, Virginia, have joined HII Technical Solutions’ Unmanned Systems business group. Sam Lewis, president and chief operating officer of SIS, will lead the company’s USV efforts, reporting to Fotheringham. The cost of the transaction is not being disclosed.

Huntington Ingalls Industries is America’s largest military shipbuilding company and a provider of professional services to partners in government and industry. For more than a century, HII’s Newport News and Ingalls shipbuilding divisions in Virginia and Mississippi have built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder. HII’s Technical Solutions division supports national security missions around the globe with unmanned systems, defense and federal solutions, and nuclear and environmental services. Headquartered in Newport News, Virginia, HII employs more than 42,000 people operating both domestically and internationally. For more information, visit:

• HII on the web: www.huntingtoningalls.com
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Statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in these statements. Factors that may cause such differences include: changes in government and customer priorities and requirements (including government budgetary constraints, shifts in defense spending, and changes in customer short-range and long-range plans); our ability to estimate our future contract costs and perform our contracts effectively; changes in procurement processes and government regulations and our ability to comply with such requirements; our ability to deliver our products and services at an affordable life cycle cost and compete within our markets; natural and environmental disasters and political instability; our ability to execute our strategic plan, including with respect to share repurchases, dividends, capital expenditures and strategic acquisitions; adverse economic conditions in the United States and globally; health epidemics, pandemics and similar outbreaks, including the COVID-19 pandemic; changes in key estimates and assumptions regarding our pension and retiree health care costs; security threats, including cyber security threats, and related disruptions; and other risk factors discussed in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. There may be other risks and uncertainties that we are unable to predict at this time or that we currently do not expect to have a material adverse effect on our business, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements that we may make. This release also contains non-GAAP financial measures and includes a GAAP reconciliation of these financial measures. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be construed as being more important than comparable GAAP measures.

Contact:

Beci Brenton
Beci.Brenton@hii-co.com
(202) 264-7143