The Coast Guard has awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] a $486 million contract to build the ninth National Security Cutter (NSC), the last new high endurance cutter that Congress has provided funding for.
The Coast Guard’s program of record is for eight NSCs, but Congress agreed to provide funding for a ninth vessel. The Senate in its version of an FY ’17 appropriations bill initiates funding for a 10th NSC but the House bill doesn’t, meaning the two chambers still need to resolve their differences here.
The Legend-class NSCs are replacing 12 Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters that entered service in the 1960s.
The NSCs are built at HII’s shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss. So far, the company has delivered six of the 418-foot vessels, five of which are fully operational with the Coast Guard. The seventh NSC is slated for delivery in 2018 and the eighth in 2019. The ninth NSC is slated for delivery in late 2020.
“As we continue to be the sole builder in this class, the benefits of serial production are apparent: technologically advanced, dependable ships that are built at cost and on schedule,” Derek Murphy, NSC program manager at HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding division, said in a statement.
Last August, HII received an $88.2 million contract from the Coast Guard to procure long-lead materials for the ninth NSC. Last March, the company received a $499.8 million contract to build the eighth NSC. The value of the long-lead production contract for that vessel was $76.7 million.
In March 2014, the Coast Guard awarded HII a $497 million contract for construction of the seventh NSC. The long-lead material award that preceded that contract was for $76.8 million.