The Department of Homeland Security last Thursday approved the Coast Guard’s request to start production of the first domestically-built heavy icebreaker in nearly 50 years, a key milestone on the service’s path to hosting a fleet of icebreakers that can help provide the U.S. sustained presence in the polar regions.
The Coast Guard is still negotiating a contract modification with Bollinger Shipyards on the cost to build the Polar Security Cutters (PSCs) and the production schedule (Defense Daily, Dec. 18). A senior Coast Guard officer told a House panel last week that the price of the PSC is expected to be 50 percent higher than when the contract was originally awarded in 2019 to VT Halter Marine, which was acquired by Bollinger in 2022.
Contract negotiations should be finalized in January, Vice Adm. Thomas Allan, deputy commandant for mission support, told the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security.
Currently, the first PSC is expected to be delivered in 2030, about six years later than originally planned. The Coast Guard wants at least three PSCs, with deliveries spaced two years apart.
The Coast Guard said that approval by the DHS Acquisition Review Board on Dec. 19 continues work that Bollinger has been doing since the summer of 2023 building eight prototype fabrication assessment units in what the service calls a “progressive crawl-walk-run approach to help the shipbuilder strengthen skills across the workforce and refine construction methods before moving into full-rate production (Defense Daily, Aug. 4, 2023).”
The deliberate approach to relearning how to build these complex ships using the prototype modules “has prepared the government and the shipbuilder to begin construction of the PSC class, resulting in more precise, cost-effective and reliable construction processes,” the Coast Guard said Monday evening.
The service currently operates two polar icebreakers, the heavy Polar Star, commissioned in 1976, and the medium Healy, commissioned in 1999. The Polar Star is undergoing annual life extensions to keep it operating until the PSCs are conducting missions. The Coast Guard expects to conduct a similar life extension effort with the Healy.
The Coast Guard’s fleet mix analysis calls for a polar icebreaking fleet of eight to nine ships that would consist of a combination of heavy and medium vessels. A future medium icebreaker, which the service has referred to as the Arctic Security Cutter, is not even a program currently.
To help close the Coast Guard’s gap in polar icebreakers, the service on Dec. 11 acquired the M/V Aiviq, a 360-foot polar class equivalent icebreaker from Offshore Service Vessels, part of Edison Chouest Offshore (Defense Daily, Nov. 26). The Coast Guard on Dec. 20 accepted ownership of the commercially available polar icebreaker, the service also said on Monday.
Once commissioned, the Aiviq will be renamed Coast Guard Cutter Storis (WAGB 21) and will enhance U.S. presence and missions in the Arctic while awaiting delivery of all the PSCs. The Coast Guard expects minimal modifications to the vessel although it said it “will evaluate the vessel’s condition and identify requirements to achieve full operational capability.”
Under the $125 million firm fixed-price contract, Louisiana-based Offshore Service Vessels, the Edison Chouest subsidiary, is responsible for delivery, reactivation, technical data, spares, certifications, modifications, crew training and operational readiness activities of the Aiviq.
The Coast Guard is evaluating temporary homeport options for the commercial icebreaker with the eventual goal to permanently homeport the ship in Juneau, Alaska.