General Dynamics [GD] yesterday said the Coast Guard has accepted the company-built Rescue 21 search and rescue communications system that will serve the service’s Buffalo, N.Y. sector.
The delivery marks the 38th Rescue 21 sector to become operational and adds about 625 square miles to the system’s nationwide coverage of more than 41,800 miles of United States coastline.
The Buffalo deployment consists of 14 communication towers and 10 facilities. So far the national Rescue 21 system includes 247 towers and 200 command and control facilities.
The Rescue 21 system uses direction finding technologies and digital communications to allow Coast Guard personnel to respond quickly and accurately to calls from distressed mariners out to at least 20 nautical miles from shore. Coast Guard personnel in the Buffalo sector respond to more than 1,000 search and rescue cases annually.