Posted: December 15, 2015 11:51 AM
Coast Guard Commandant: More Large Cutters, Icebreakers Likely as Capabilities Become Evident
By RICHARD R. BURGESS, Managing Editor
ARLINGTON, Va. — The Coast Guard expects to begin construction of its largest acquisition, the Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC), within 18 to 24 months and likely is to add more to the program of record as the cutters demonstrate their worth. Similarly, the service is negotiating procurement of a ninth National Security Cutter (NSC).
Speaking Dec. 15 at a Special Topic Breakfast sponsored by the Navy League and PricewaterhouseCoopers, Coast Guard Commandant ADM Paul F. Zukunft said the service expects to “cut steel” on the lead OPC by 2017 with one of the designs proposed by the three competing shipbuilders. The service plans to acquire 25 OPCs to replace the Famous- and Reliance-class Medium-Endurance Cutters, but may acquire more.
“Why do I say ‘over 25?’ We said eight National Security Cutters, now we’re negotiating a ninth,” Zukunft said. “Once you start building these, they start demonstrating value. Sometimes it’s very difficult to stop at what that program of record is.
“We will see an appropriation today, and, quite honestly, I will not be surprised if we see a ninth [National Security Cutter] because it won’t penalize the largest acquisition in our history, the Offshore Patrol Cutter,” he said. Of the NSC, he said, “These ships are more than paying for themselves.
“You want to build from a position of strength,” he said. “We want to demonstrate that we are a good steward of the taxpayers’ dollars.”
Zukunft also stressed the need for a new icebreaker for Arctic and Antarctic operations. Of the Arctic, he said, “If we are truly going to be an Arctic nation, [it is] imperative to reinvest in this capability. We have a lot more carrier strike groups than we have icebreakers.
“We are trying to reshape the part of the world, to make it less hostile and more humanitarian on issues that matter,” he said. “The Crystal Serenity, a cruise ship, will be sailing this summer through the Northwest Passage, fully laden with passengers paying the minimum cost of $20,000 per ticket. A lot of the cruise ship industry is asking, ‘How do we get in on this?’
“It’s uncharted territory,” Zukunft said, noting he had ridden on the Icelandic Coast Guard vessel Thor that had charts for the region dating to 1915 and had to use a small boat with a side-scan sonar to precede the ship as it navigated through the region, while coming upon cruise ships “zipping along at 25 knots.
“Today, we are still flying the International Ice Patrol, 103 years after the sinking of the Titanic. [Do] you wait for a mass casualty before we finally wake up, like we did after 9/11, and say, ‘It’s about time we did something about this?’ … We do need to invest in new icebreakers as an Arctic nation, where there is much at stake in the Arctic,” he said. “The good news is that we’ve got great bipartisan support to invest in this.
“We will find the money,” he said. “This isn’t as expensive as an SSBN [ballistic-missile submarine], but it is an investment that we need to make.”
http://www.seapowermagazine.org/stories/20151215-zukunft.html
