
The Coast Guard before Christmas awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] a contract option to build the 10th and 11th National Security Cutters (NSCs), the last two high-endurance cutters that Congress has provided funding for.The award value for the 10th ship was $468.8 million and $462.1 million for the 11th. Funding was provided under the fiscal year 2018 appropriation, which included $1.2 billion overall for the NSC program.The 418-foot NSCs are replacing 378-foot Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters. Congress is debating whether to…