The Coast Guard on Tuesday awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] an $88.2 million contract to purchase long-lead materials for construction of the ninth National Security Cutter, one ship beyond the service’s program of record.
The Coast Guard had planned to acquire eight NSCs, but Congress in FY ’16 added funding for the ninth vessel. In their respective markups of the FY ’17 Homeland Security budget, Senate appropriators added initial funds for a 10th NSC while House appropriators didn’t.
A Coast Guard spokesman on Wednesday told Defense Daily that the construction contract for NSC-9 is expected to be awarded before the end of 2016. He said a delivery date for the 418-foot Legend-class vessel will be identified at that time.
The long-lead contract means HII can acquire steel plating, propulsion systems, marine turbine/diesel engines, air search radar, ship integrated control systems, switchboards and generators.
“This long-lead material contract gives our shipbuilders the ability to immediately start work on the ship in anticipation of the construction contract,” Kari Wilkinson, vice president of Program Management at HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division, said in a statement.
HII has delivered five NSCs and the sixth, the Munro, is slated for acceptance sea trials and delivery in December. The seventh ship, the Kimball, is scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter, and the keel for the eighth, the Midgett, is scheduled to be laid later this year.
The NSCs are Coast Guard’s most technologically advanced cutters, patrolling the high seas with integrated C4ISR systems, helicopters and small boat assets to extend their operating ranges conduct national security, law enforcement and defense missions.