The Coast Guard faces a growing capability gap between the times its current fleet of medium-endurance cutters retires and when its fleet of new Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPC) finishes coming on line, according to a House panel that oversees policy authorities for the service.
“The ongoing recapitalization of the Service’s cutters was planned two decades ago to address mission demands at that time,” the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on the Coast Guard says in a July 19 subject matter summary ahead of July 24 hearing to review the Coast Guard’s acquisition programs and mission effectiveness. “The world and mission demands have changed since that time and it is critical that the Service be ready to respond to the demands of today, as well as those that will exist in decades to come.”
The summary includes a publicly available chart from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) that shows about a 12 to 18 month gap between the expected retirement of the Dependable 210-foot medium endurance cutter and the projected delivery of the first OPC in 2022. By the time the 25th OPC is delivered in 2035, it will have been about eight years since the 25th medium endurance cutter was retired in 2027 if their end of life refurbishments last 15 years, the document shows.
Two additional medium endurance cutters, the Mohawk and Forward, will retire in 2028, if an end of life refurbishment effort extends their lives 15 additional years.
“It is also important that the Coast Guard be prepared to manage capability gaps that are likely to occur as recapitalization continues,” the subcommittee says. “For example, given current Coast Guard plans, there will potentially be significant gaps between the time when the Medium Endurance Cutters are no longer operable and when new Offshore Patrol Cutters are ready to take their place.”
The subcommittee’s summary also notes that the Coast Guard still has to recapitalize its helicopter fleet, which is “already well-beyond the flight hours of similar fleets of the other Armed Forces.” The Coast Guard’s helicopter fleet is composed of 98 HH-65 and 49 MH-60 helicopters.
Separately, the Coast Guard on July 18 released a Request for Information for research on a service life extension for its only operational heavy polar icebreaker, the 399-foot Polar Star. Under the In-Service Vessel Sustainment Program effort, the planned work includes recapitalizing machinery control and propulsion power distribution systems with a goal to expend to life of the cutter by four years.
Work performed on the icebreaker during the life extension program would be done in dry-dock for four to six months at a time for each year of planned work. The Polar Star was commissioned in the mid-1970s and is homeported in Seattle, Wash.
In fiscal year 2019, the Coast Guard is expected to award a contract for the design and construction of the first of three new heavy polar icebreakers. The first ship is slated for delivery in 2023.