Sticking to his re-election campaign platform last year, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) on Wednesday suggested that the production line for the Coast Guard’s flagship National Security Cutter (NSC) remain open before new programs begin.
The Coast Guard in March year awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] a $500 million contract to construct the eighth and final planned Legend-class of NSCs, which are replacing 12 aging Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters.
That NSC program has been the service’s top funding priority the past few years as part of the recapitalization of its high-endurance surface fleet but now the service is focused on completing the design and then awarding a production contract for a new fleet of medium-endurance cutters, the Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC). The Coast Guard currently plans to spend nearly $11 billion to purchase 25 OPCs.
Cochran in his re-election campaign last year included production of 12 NSCs as part of his platform. The ships are built in his state.
“As we continue to analyze our budgetary needs and the demands that are being made throughout the jurisdiction of this committee, I believe we have an opportunity to take some action prior to the start of other important programs by maintaining the National Security Cutter production line by adding a 9th ship,” he said on Wednesday near the outset of a Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing to review the $41.4 billion discretionary funding request for the Department of Homeland Security. “I think there’s a strategy for showing that this makes sense and will pay off for being able to carry out the responsibilities. We need to be able to ensure we provide the ships and the equipment our men and women in uniform desperately need so they can carry out their responsibilities and missions.”
The Coast Guard’s annual acquisition budget has been hovering at just over $1 billion, leaving little room for more than one major asset purchase. In addition to purchasing NSCs, the service has been buying Fast Response Cutters (FRC) from Bollinger Shipyards that are designed for shorter-duration operations lasting days rather than the months-long missions performed by the medium and high-endurance cutters. So far, 32 FRCs are under contract for about $1.5 billion and the Coast Guard is in the process of recompeting the program for the final 26 vessels to meet its requirement.
Currently Bollinger, General Dynamics [GD] and Eastern Shipbuilding Group each have relatively small preliminary design contracts for the OPC. The Coast Guard expects to downselect to one contractor next year to build up to 11 OPCs and then recompete the contract for the remaining cutters.
When the Coast Guard originally planned the NSC program as part of the larger Integrated Deepwater System that includes the FRC, OPC, related C4ISR upgrades and aviation assets, it said the eight new high-endurance cutters would provide greater capability than the 12 aging Hamilton-class vessels they are replacing given greater C4ISR and other improvements.