The Coast Guard recently delivered a fleet mix analysis to Congress that show it needs eight to nine polar icebreakers to fulfill its missions in the Arctic and Antarctic regions, a senior service official said on Wednesday.
The mix of icebreakers would consist of four or five heavy Polar Security Cutters (PSCs) and four or five medium Arctic Security Cutters, which “have shallower drafts and can get into tighter spaces and shallower areas,” Vice Adm. Peter Gautier, deputy commandant for operations, told the House Homeland Security Committee.
That number and mix of polar icebreaking ships will “provide us persistent presence in the U.S. Arctic off Alaska, on the Atlantic Arctic, and then that also includes a presence for Antarctica,” he said.
The Coast Guard currently has two operational polar icebreakers, the Polar Star, a heavy vessel, and the Healy, a medium ship. The Polar Star in mid-November left its homeport in Seattle for its annual mission to break ice to resupply the National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station in Antarctica.
The 23-year-old Healy typically does an annual mission each summer in the Arctic region, hosting various scientific experiments, showing presence, and working with international partners.
The Polar Star is nearly 50 years old and is undergoing annual service life extension efforts to keep it operating longer than planned. Gautier said that Bollinger Shipyards is making progress on the detailed design of the PSC “and we hope and we believe that construction will be able to begin in 2024.”
The Coast Guard currently plans to acquire three PSCs. Planning for the Arctic Security Cutter is in the early stages.
The first PSC was originally expected to be delivered in the first half of 2024 but design challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic delayed the program, which was awarded to VT Halter Marine for nearly $750 million in April 2019. Halter received a $553 million contract for the second PSC in 2021. Bollinger, which builds the Coast Guard’s shorter range fast response cutters, acquired Halter Marine in 2022.
Gautier highlighted that the U.S. has not built a heavy icebreaker in 50 years and that the PSC “is the most complex Coast Guard cutter that we have ever built. And we knew there would be risk and challenges.”
The Coast Guard previously authorized Bollinger to build test hull sections of the PSC to accelerate detailed design. Gautier said the first test section is complete and allows the “shipyard to build proficiency and build some lessons and how they can build the rest of the ship.” A second test hull section is currently being built, he said.
Still, there are some “hurdles” ahead, Gautier said.
“I don’t want to paint an overly rosy picture,” he said. “This shipyard has indicated issues in the contract in terms of the time delivery, which is currently 2025, and the cost. And we’re in negotiations with them to understand what course of action forward might be.”
The Coast Guard has been working with Bollinger on an updated schedule for the PSC, but service officials previously have said the first ship will be delivered in 2027. However, in July, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan signaled that delivery may occur in 2028 (Defense Daily, July 13).
To help meet its interim polar icebreaking needs, the Coast Guard is requesting $150 million in fiscal year 2024 to acquire a commercially-built icebreaker.