NEWPORT NEWS, Va., March 01, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global engineering and defense technologies provider HII (NYSE:HII) announced today that the company's Newport News Shipbuilding division completed the first planned incremental availability (PIA) for aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78). Gerald R. Ford is the first ship in a new class of aircraft carriers that incorporates 23 new technologies, designed to support the Navy's air wing of the future.