The Coast Guard before Christmas awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries [HII] a contract option to build the 10th and 11th National Security Cutters (NSCs), the last two high-endurance cutters that Congress has provided funding for.
The award value for the 10th ship was $468.8 million and $462.1 million for the 11th. Funding was provided under the fiscal year 2018 appropriation, which included $1.2 billion overall for the NSC program.
The 418-foot NSCs are replacing 378-foot Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters. Congress is debating whether to fund one more NSC to obtain a one-for-one replacement of the 12 Hamilton-class ships that are being retired.
HII is building the NSCs at its Ingalls Shipbuilding facility in Pascagoula, Miss. The company has delivered seven ships and six are in service. The seventh ship, the Kimball, is scheduled to commission this month in Hawaii.
The eighth and ninth NSCs, the Midgett and Stone, are under construction. The Midgett is expected to begin its first set of sea trials in the first quarter of 2019 with delivery planned for later this year. The Stone is scheduled to be launched this year with delivery expected in fiscal year 2021.
Separately, the Coast Guard on Dec. 20 said it conducted a critical design review of the Minotaur mission integration system for its fleet of C-27J Spartan medium-range surveillance aircraft. The review is expected to be completed early in 2019.