The House Transportation and Infrastructure on Wednesday approved by voice vote a two-year authorization bill for the Coast Guard that would allow for nearly $2 billion to be spent by the service on acquisition efforts in both FY ’18 and FY ’19.
The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2017 (H.R. 2518) would also require the Department of Homeland Security to establish a land-based unmanned aircraft system (UAS) program that is controlled by the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard doesn’t currently operate land-based UAS. Customs and Border Protection, another DHS component, does operate a fleet of land-based UAS, including two systems that are used for maritime operations.
The Coast Guard is interested in having long-range, high-endurance land-based UAS to patrol the transit zones in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea to help spot illegal drug shipments before they reach land.
The bill, which must still be approved by the House, is in line with what the Coast Guard wants in annual acquisition funding, $2 billion. However, congressional appropriations bills have the final say on actual funding for federal departments and agencies.
The Trump administration on Tuesday sent a budget request to Congress seeking $1.2 billion in appropriations for Coast Guard acquisition in FY ’18.
A Senate committee earlier this month also passed a similar Coast Guard bill that authorizes about $2 billion in acquisition funding for the Coast Guard in FY ’18 and FY ’19. That version of the bill also authorizes the Coast Guard to pursue some type of multi-year contracting strategy on the service’s 10th, 11th and 12th National Security Cutters (NSC), if funding is ever appropriated for them.
The House bill doesn’t mention a multi-year contract strategy for the NSCs. So far, Congress has funded nine NSCs and the Coast Guard’s original plans stopped at eight of the vessels. Congress appropriated long-lead material funding for a 10th NSC in the FY ’17 budget but the Trump administration didn’t ask for construction funding for this ship in its FY ’18 request.