The Coast Guard yesterday said it has awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] a $487.1 million contract for construction of the sixth National Security Cutter, which will be built at the company’s shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss.
The Coast Guard currently has three NSCs in service and two more under construction with HII. The contract for NSC-5 was awarded in September 2011 and is 16 percent complete.
The service plans on having a fleet of eight NSCs to replace 12 aging Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters. The Coast Guard is seeking funding for the seventh NSC in its FY ’14 budget request.