Category Archives: homeland security

USCG Gets Serious on drones as largest icebreaker finishes last (planned) overhaul

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A slate of press releases from the Coast Guard has the service spending some big money, something in the area of $378 million, on bettering its aviation and drone/robot inventory.

Those updates, part of the giant OBBBA Homeland Security outlay, will buy, in part:

  • $4.8 million to procure 16 VideoRay Defender remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to replace Deployable Specialized Forces’ aging fleet. These will be used for waterfront and pier inspections, hull assessments, subsurface infrastructure surveys, disaster response, and search and rescue missions.
  • $2 million to procure six Qinetiq Squad Packable Utility Robot (SPUR) and 12 mini-SPUR robots to replace outdated unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) at Strike Teams to access and sample air in confined spaces aboard commercial vessels.
  • $4.3 million to purchase 125 SkyDio X10D [a type that is getting much love from the Department of War lately] short-range unmanned aircraft systems (SR-UAS). The SR-UAS will support operations including infrastructure inspections, environmental observation, pollution response, post-storm surveys, ice surveys, and communications.
  • $14.3 million order for the delivery of 13 new General Electric T700 engines for its growing MH-60 helicopter fleet. The USCG plans to go to an all-MH-60T rotary wing fleet with 127 new aircraft, replacing older MH-65 Dolphins altogether.
  • $13.9 million for three AN/APY-11 multi-mode radar systems to be installed on future HC-130Js during the Minotaur missionization process.

Roll that beautiful drone footage sizzle reel, including a good look at 161-pound Shield AI MQ-35A V-BAT, which is currently part of a $198 million contract.

 

USCGC Polar Star Returns to Seattle after 308 days

After 308 days away from its Seattle home port, the 49-year-old U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 10) and crew returned home last Tuesday. Of that, 175 days were spent refirbing the 13,500-ton, 399-foot icebreaker, which first took to the water in 1976.

After 308 days away from its Seattle home port, the 49-year-old U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 10) and crew returned home, Sept. 23, 2025. Upon completing Operation Deep Freeze 2025, Polar Star returned directly to Mare Island Dry Dock in Vallejo, Calif., to complete the final year of a five-year Service Life Extension Program prior to returning to Seattle. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Annika Hirschler.

The crew of the USCGC Polar Star (WAGB 10) poses for a group photo underneath the cutter’s stern while in dry dock in Vallejo, Calif., Aug. 1, 2025. 250801-G-G0200-1001

The rudder of the USCGC Polar Star (WAGB 10) is being removed while in a Vallejo, Calif., dry dock, April 1, 2025. The maintenance work completed over the past five years recapitalized integral systems, including propulsion, communication, and machinery control systems. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Seaman Nestor Molina)

Upon completing Operation Deep Freeze (ODF) 2025, Polar Star returned directly to Mare Island Dry Dock in Vallejo, Calif., to complete the final year of a five-year Service Life Extension Program (SLEP).

The maintenance work completed over the past five years recapitalized integral systems, including propulsion, communication, and machinery control systems. These efforts are designed to extend the cutter’s service life as the Coast Guard begins construction of its first Polar Security Cutter. Until PSCs becomes operational, Polar Star will remain the only U.S. icebreaker capable of completing the annual breakout of McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, in support of the U.S. Antarctic program (USAP).

Eye(s) in the Sky, Las Vegas Metro Style

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The Las Vegas Metro Police Department, with the help of donations, is building 13 UAV hive “Skyports,” each housing numerous docked and ready to deploy Skydio X-10 quadcopters (38 on hand, supplemented by 12 spare X-10s).

With a 40-minute flight endurance, weather resistance, and rapid deployment capabilities, the Skydio X10 enhances situational awareness. It empowers first responders to make informed, timely decisions during critical operations, making it a vital asset in DFR deployments.

The department has received authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fly drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS), allowing for remote operation from a central command center.

Skyports are strategically located in areas of high crime or where they are needed most. These drones remain climate-controlled, fully charged, and mission-ready, and are equipped with built-in safety features such as parachutes in the event of an unplanned landing. Anyone who attempts to damage a police drone is subject to the same penalties as damaging a police vehicle.

Going past the Skyports, drone unit vehicles will be on call with 16 smaller Skydio X2s capable of flying out of the back of a marked SUV, presumably four units per shift. Each of these Mobile DFR (Drones as a First Responder) units consists of two officers, or an officer paired with an LVMPD drone pilot and a deployable drone.

“Similar to a traditional K9 unit that deploys trained dogs, the Mobile DFR program deploys drones to provide real-time overwatch and situational awareness from the sky, offering critical support to officers on the ground during high-priority incidents.”

You can bet that this will be policing in the future.

Add to that border security, base security, sovereignty protection, etc., et al.

Greyhound and pups

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How about this great, and very diverse, image released this week as part of Operation Pacific Viper, a joint DOW/DHS operation run through Southern Command that has bagged a reported 75,000 pounds of cocaine in the Eastern Pacific Ocean since early August, averaging over 1,800 pounds interdicted daily.

You have one Navy and three different Coast Guard blue water classes represented in profile. A rare shot.

(U.S. Navy Photo by Naval Aircrewman (Tactical Helicopter) 2nd Class Teague Bullard)

The include, from left to right, the 270-foot Legend (Bear) class USCGC Seneca (WMEC 906), the ancient 210-foot Reliance-class USCGC Venturous (WMEC 625), the 509-foot Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Sampson (DDG 102), and the frigate-sized 418-foot National Security Cutter USCGC Stone (WMSL 758).

While Sampson was commissioned in 2007, and Stone in 2021, Seneca dates to 1987, while the Ohio-born Venturous, one of just eight of her 16 sisters still in active service, was commissioned in 1968.

Another head-on shot, with an HC-130J overhead, but in a different formation with Sampson and Stone on the outside and the smaller boys in the middle. While they look high speed, the group can’t be going over 16 knots, which is the 210’s top speed these days.

Coast Guard and partner agencies support Operation Pacific Viper in the Eastern Pacific Ocean in August 2025. Operation Pacific Viper is a counter-drug operation focused on interdicting, seizing, and disrupting transshipments of cocaine and other bulk illicit drugs. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

Nonetheless, they have all been very busy, across 20 interdictions that also netted 59 individuals suspected of narco-trafficking. And you know what happens to narco boats in the Eastern Pacific once the evidence has been documented and suspects removed.

They get deep-sixed.

USCG photo 250918-G-IV660-1003

Hat’s Off!

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Members of the 3rd Co., Coast Artillery Reserve Corps, firing a 12-inch M1888MII gun at Fort Worden’s Battery Ash, overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca, during summer camp, 1914. The round being fired is likely a rarely shot service round as opposed to a practice round, so more powder is involved.

Photo from Puget Sound Coast Artillery Museum collection

Constructed during the Endicott Period of coastal defenses sparked by the Spanish-American War, Battery Ash was constructed between 1899 and 1902. At the time of operation, it was outfitted with five 10-inch and two 12-inch guns in barbette carriages, the latter of which had a range of 10 miles when firing a 1,070-pound armor-piercing shell. These were aimed towards the West, the expected entry point of the enemy.

The last of the big guns at Fort Worden were deactivated in late 1942, hopelessly obsolete, and were removed in 1944, cut up to be used as scrap iron for the war effort. None of the guns or mortars at the Harbor Defenses of Puget Sound ever fired a shot in anger – only for practice.

During their four-decade career, each of the big 12-inchers at Worden only fired about 70 rounds in practice, an average of less than two shots per year.

USCG Ups 154-foot Cutter Buy to 77 Hulls, PSU Boat Raiders, and HITRON Marks 1,000 ‘kills’

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The Coast Guard’s 2004 Program of Record for its planned Sentinel-class Fast Response Cutter (FRC) program was “24 to 36 hulls.”

That was then.

Envisioned to replace 49 aging 110-foot 1980-90s vintage Island class patrol cutters (WPBs), 12 of which had been ruined in a botched lengthening modification, the new ships would be 30 percent longer, at 154-feet, and nearly twice the tonnage.

110-foot Island class cutters compared to the new 154-foot Sentinel (Webber) class FRCs

Powered by two 5,800 shp MTU diesels (double the plant of the 110s), the FRCs also had 50 percent greater unrefueled range (2,900nm vs 1,882nm), a much better cutter boat (a stern dock launched jet drive 26-footer vs a davit deployed 18-footer with an outboard), better habitability, sensors, commo, and better guns (a gyro-stabilized remote fired Mk 38 Mod 2/3 25mm with an EO/IR sensor system and 4-6 M2s/Mk19s vs an unstabilized eyeball-trained Mk 38 Mod 0 and two M2s).

Plus, they had larger crews, at 4 officers, 4 POs, and 16 ratings, vs 2/2/12, which meant more hands could be sent away on landing details.

This meant they would be rated as WPCs instead of WPBs, akin to the Navy’s similar 170-foot Cyclone-class PCs.

MIAMI — The Coast Guard Cutter Webber, the Coast Guard’s first Sentinel Class patrol boat, arrives at Coast Guard Sector Miami Feb. 9, 2012. The 154-foot Webber is a Fast Response Cutter capable of independently deploying to conduct missions such as ports, waterways, and coastal security, fishery patrols, drug and illegal migrant law enforcement, search and rescue, and national defense along the Gulf of Mexico and throughout the Caribbean. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Sabrina Elgammal.

The lead FRC delivered, USCGC Bernard C. Webber (WPC-1101), commissioned in April 2012, while the last 110s to leave Coast Guard service did so this summer, at which point the FRCs, which have proven extremely handy, even on long-ranging blue water cruises in the Pacific, had 58 hulls in service with another nine under contract.

A big jump from 24-36!

The truth is, the USCG is pressing these new 154-footers into the gap left by their aging 210-270-foot blue-water medium-endurance cutter fleet. Mission whackamole.

Classmember USCGC Oliver Berry (WPC-1124) completed a nearly 9,300-nautical-mile, 45-day round-trip patrol from Hawaii to Guam in 2020 and followed it up with a 46-day patrol in 2024. At the same time, several of these hulls are self-deploying 7,700 miles from Key West to new home ports in Alaska.

There have been repeated calls for the Navy to purchase members of the class for use in littoral operations, as the cutter has sufficient weight and space to mount a Naval Strike Missile box launcher with four tubes at the stern.

Now, the CG has upped the $65 million per-cutter Sentinel class program to 77 hulls, with a 10-ship buy announced this week.

“Since its introduction to the fleet in 2012 as the successor to the 110-foot Island class patrol boat, the Fast Response Cutter has consistently proven its capabilities, adaptability, and effectiveness in a wide range of maritime environments and Coast Guard missions,” said RADM Mike Campbell, the Coast Guard’s Director of Systems Integration and Chief Acquisition Officer.

PSU Boat Raiders!

As part of Arctic Edge 2025, an element of 3rd Bn, 4th Marines, 1st MARDIV teamed up with Long Beach, California-based USCGR Port Security Unit 311 to use their 32-foot Transportable Port Security Boats to conduct a boat raid on a “simulated enemy port” at Port Mackenzie, Alaska.

A sort of budget SWCC/SEAL kind of arrangement.

The SWCC we have at home, if you will.

U.S. Coast Guardsmen with Port Security Unit 311, and U.S. Marines with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, depart after conducting an amphibious raid on a simulated enemy port during ARCTIC EDGE 2025 (AE25) at Port Mackenzie, Alaska, Aug. 13, 2025. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Earik Barton)

U.S. Coast Guardsmen with Port Security Unit 311, and U.S. Marines with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, conduct an amphibious raid on a simulated enemy port during ARCTIC EDGE 2025 (AE25) at Port Mackenzie, Alaska, Aug. 13, 2025. The raid was conducted to demonstrate joint-service interoperability in an austere environment. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Earik Barton)

U.S. Coast Guardsmen with Port Security Unit 311, and U.S. Marines with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, conduct an amphibious raid on a simulated enemy port during ARCTIC EDGE 2025 (AE25) at Port Mackenzie, Alaska, Aug. 13, 2025. The raid was conducted to demonstrate joint-service interoperability in an austere environment. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Earik Barton)

U.S. Coast Guardsmen with Port Security Unit 311, and U.S. Marines with Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, conduct an amphibious raid on a simulated enemy port during ARCTIC EDGE 2025 (AE25) at Port Mackenzie, Alaska, Aug. 13, 2025. The raid was conducted to demonstrate joint-service interoperability in an austere environment. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Earik Barton)

Keep in mind that something like this could be in the toolbox in a future conflict.

Capable of 45 knots on a pair of inboard diesels, the TPSBs carry two .50 cals and two M240B GPMGs. Girded with ballistic panels, they have shock-mitigating seats and can carry as many as eight passengers in addition to a four-man crew. It looks like each carried a half-squad or so of Marines. Each PSU has six TPSBs, allowing a theoretical raid force of 72, exclusive of crews.

The boats have an over-the-horizon capability and range of 238nm, meaning they can be used as an easily deployable blocking/interdiction force in a littoral if needed.

HITRON hits 1K

Finally, the U.S. Coast Guard’s Jacksonville-based Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON) achieved a significant milestone in its counter-drug mission, completing its 1,000th interdiction of suspected narco-trafficking vessels on 25 August.

Since its founding in 1999, HITRON has interdicted $33.2 billion in illicit drugs during operations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, and over the past 26 years, it has averaged one interdiction every nine days.

Not bad numbers for less than 200 Coasties, including reservists and auxiliaries, and a dozen MH-65E Dolphins, whose base airframes are 40 years old!

Coast Guard crews from the Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron, Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Team – South, Coast Guard Cutter Midgett (WMSL 757), helicopter tie-down members, and unmanned aerial vehicle personnel pose for a group photo aboard Midgett from behind three bullet-damaged outboard engine cowlings while underway in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, Aug. 28, 2025. On Aug. 25, HITRON used airborne use of force to stop the non-compliant vessel, marking the unit’s 1,000th drug interdiction since the unit’s inception in 1999, which resulted in Midgett crew members seizing approximately 3,606 pounds of suspected cocaine worth an estimated $46 million and apprehending six suspected narco-traffickers. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

Never Forget

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19 October 1984: The Twin Towers dot the Gotham skyline as crackerjack-wearing gunners mates stand at attention on USS Iowa’s (BB 61) No. 1 16″/50 gun turret as the battleship approaches the southern end of Manhattan during a scheduled port visit to New York City shortly after the dreadnought was recommissioned for the third (and final) time. Note the full-color recognition flag on the roof of the gun house.

U.S. Navy photo DNST8505245 by PH1 Jeff Hilton, NARA 330-CFD-DN-ST-85-05245

Two other views from the same photographer that day, including a cameo by the Staten Island Ferry.

Coast Guard orders more Offshore Patrol Cutters as Canada’s CG Gets (Kinda) Militarized

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After Eastern Shipbuilding in Panama City ruined the proverbial sheets on its four building Heritage (Argus) class Offshore Patrol Cutters for the Coast Guard, Austal of Mobile swooped in and picked up basically an emergency contract for two OPC, augmented with long lead time materials funding for a third granted in August.

Now, with the future USCGC Pickering (WMSM-919) and Icarus (920) under construction, and Active (921) planning to cut steel, Austal was just approved for $314 million in LLM funding for the 4th, 5th, and 6th cutters on their schedule.

“With a range of 10,200 nautical miles at 14 knots and a 60-day endurance period, each OPC will be capable of deploying independently or as part of task groups, serving as a mobile command and control platform for surge operations such as hurricane response, mass migration incidents, and other events. The cutters will also support Arctic objectives by helping regulate and protect emerging commerce and energy exploration in Alaska.”

The program of record for the OPC is an ambitious 25 hulls, the USCG’s largest shipbuilding program in history. Every single hull will be needed to replace the 13-ship 270-foot Bear class cutters and the 16 ships of the now 50+ year old 210-foot Reliance class cutters, as well as the elderly USCGC Alex Haley (WMEC-39), which entered service with the Navy in 1971 as USS Edenton (ATS-1).

And with that, how about this interesting USNI op-ed from LCDR Keith Blevins, USCG, on how the Navy can best get to its fleet number goal by keeping the Coast Guard’s production lines open for grey hulls.

He has a point in that the Navy is sleeping on the possibility of grey-hulled National Security Cutters with frigate capabilities and 158-foot WPCs becoming a new class of Navy PCs, back-filling the much-used 170-foot Cyclones, which were retired without replacement.

Meanwhile in Canada…

In further news, the 6,700-strong quasi-military (wears uniforms and has ranks and epaulettes, plus has a few small arms in lockers) Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) and “key employees” from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) have been shifted to the Canadian Ministry of National Defence.

The Canadian Coast Guard already has a good history of joint operations with NATO-allied Arctic CGs and Navies.

Formed in 1962 from a variety of services that date to 1867, the CGC has 119 vessels of varying sizes and 23 helicopters. This includes two large (25,000-ton) polar-class icebreakers under construction, the old 15,000-ton polar icebreaker CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent, eight medium (~5,000-ton) icebreakers, seven 4,700-ton “multi-tasked vessels,” 15 blue water offshore patrol vessels, and a whole catalog of smaller fisheries research vessels, lifeboats, and buoy tenders.

The 15,324-ton icebreaker and flagship of the Canadian Coast Guard, CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent under way in Halifax Harbor, escorted by CFAV Glenside in the foreground. Commissioned in 1969, she carries two helicopters and is slated to be replaced by 2030 by breakers being built in Finland. (Wiki commons)

The 4,737-ton Martha L. Black class “high endurance multi-tasked vessel” CCGS George. R. Pearkes (left) and the 2,080-ton fishery patrol vessel CCGS Leonard J. Cowley (right) in St. John’s Harbour, NL, Canada, August 2008. Wiki commons

The CGC also has 16 light-lift Bell 429 (seen above) and 7 medium-lift Bell 412EPI helicopters, along with several DHC-6/7/8s, King Air 200s owned and operated by Transport Canada or contractors on behalf of CCG.

The service has over 100 bases, stations, and centers, including the Canadian Coast Guard Academy and four-year Canadian Coast Guard College, the latter with about 300 officer cadets enrolled.

The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has some 600 armed green-uniformed officers with Smith & Wesson 5946s, rifles, and shotguns who conduct boardings from CCG ships, but there are no official figures available for how many have been transferred to the DND. The DFO had 1,908 active firearms on its latest audit.

In Canadian fashion, the change in “ownership” to DND (not the Canadian Armed Forces outright) doesn’t (necessarily) mean a more militaristic CGC. As noted by Minister of National Defense David McGuinty:

The CCG will remain a civilian Special Operating Agency. There are no plans to arm CCG personnel or assets, or to incorporate an additional enforcement role in the organization. The CCG will continue to deliver the essential services on which Canadians rely, including search and rescue, icebreaking, environmental conservation and protection, safe navigation, and supporting ocean science.

The superb silver lining for Canada is that the $2.392 billion (for 2024-25) budget for the CCG will now be counted towards the country’s long-lapsed NATO target of 2 percent of GDP in defense, which is currently only at a meager 1.37 percent. Talk about Trudeau-level L party bait and switch…

Alaska USCG Ops Get Some Muscle

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The Coast Guard, with 2,500 members assigned to USCG Arctic (formerly the 17th Coast Guard District), has been busy bird-dogging Chinese government research vessels in the region.

We’ve already talked about the China-flagged research ship Xue Long 2 (Snow Dragon 2), which, at 14,300 tons, is China’s first domestically built polar research vessel, poking around the Extended Continental Shelf a couple of weeks ago.

Now, four other Chinese red hulls are poking around as well.

The five Chinese Research Vessels are: Xue Long 2, China-flagged; Shen Hai Yi Hao, China-flagged; Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di, Liberia-flagged; Ji Di, China-flagged; and Tan Suo San Hao, China-flagged.

The Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di, a Liberian-flagged research vessel, owned and operated by the Chinese University Sun Yat-Sen, as detected by a Coast Guard C-130 Hercules aircraft from Air Station Kodiak. (U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo) 250805-G-G0200-1001

A C-130J Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak responds to a Chinese research vessel operating in the U.S. Arctic as part of Operation Frontier Sentinel Aug. 13, 2025.

A C-130J Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak responds to a Chinese research vessel operating in the U.S. Arctic as part of Operation Frontier Sentinel Aug. 13, 2025.

A C-130J Hercules airplane crew from Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak responds to a Chinese research vessel operating in the U.S. Arctic as part of Operation Frontier Sentinel Aug. 13, 2025.

From USCG PAO Juneau: 

The U.S. Coast Guard detected and responded to two Chinese research vessels operating in the U.S. Arctic and is currently monitoring a total of five similar vessels in or near the U.S Arctic.

On August 5, a C-130J Hercules fixed-wing aircraft from Air Station Kodiak responded to the Chinese research vessels Ji Di and the Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di.  Both vessels were transiting northeast in the Bering Sea.

On August 6, the crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Waesche (WMSL 751) again responded to the Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di as it was transiting north in the Chukchi Sea above the Arctic Circle, after passing through the Bering Strait.

The C-130 and USCGC Waesche were patrolling under Operation Frontier Sentinel, an operation that responds to adversaries operating in and around Alaskan and U.S. Arctic waters. The U.S. Coast Guard’s responses are intended to counter malign activities, defend sovereign interests, and promote maritime conduct consistent with international law and norms.

The presence of these vessels is consistent with a three-year trend of increased activity from Chinese research vessels operating in the U.S. Arctic. Last year, three Chinese research vessels conducted research operations north of the Bering Strait.

Storis commissioned in Juneau

The new (to the service) “icebreaker” USCGC Storis (WAGB-21) was commissioned in Juneau on Sunday.

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Storis (WAGB 21) remains moored during the Storis commissioning ceremony at Juneau, Alaska, August 10, 2025. Storis is the first polar icebreaker acquired in more than 25 years by the Coast Guard, with its mission to assure access to the polar regions and protect U.S. sovereignty. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Carmen Caver)

Taking the name of the legendary 2,000-ton/230-foot WWII-era icebreaker USCGC Storis (WAGL/WAG/WAGB/WMEC-38), which had a 64-year career, much of it in Alaska waters, the new 12,800-ton 360-foot cutter is much different but at the same time, more capable in many ways.

Sadly, although she was commissioned in Alaska and is to be stationed there, Storis will be shifting back to Seattle, where she is chilling with the USCG’s other icebreakers until a berth can be finished for her in 2026-27.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard’s $4.3 billion Polar Security Cutter (PSC) heavy polar icebreaker program has had all three of its vessels fully funded— although it will probably be half a decade before the class leader is delivered and commissioned.

Going past that class, three to five new medium polar icebreakers called Arctic Security Cutters (ASCs) are on the drawing board, giving the service eight modern icebreakers to replace its current three (the 50-year-old heavy USCGC Polar Star, the 26-year-old medium breaker USCGC Healy, and the ersatz Storis).

$3.5 billion for the first three Arctic Security Cutters has been fully funded under H.R. 1.

The Coast Guard’s future Arctic Security Cutter (ASC), as many as five of which may be built “someday”

New Sentinel clocks in

The fifth of six planned new 154-foot Sentinel (Webber) class Fast Response Cutters is slated to be commissioned at Kodiak’s fuel pier on Monday after self-deploying over 7,000nm from her builder in Louisiana.

The crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Earl Cunningham (WPC 1159) arrives at their homeport in Kodiak, Alaska, May 31, 2025. This was the first time the cutter had arrived at its homeport following its construction in Lockport, Louisiana. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Shannon Kearney)

Cunningham will be homeported in Kodiak with USCGC John Witherspoon (WPC 1158), which arrived in January. Meanwhile, they have a trio of Ketchikan-based sisters: USCGC John McCormick (WPC-1121)— the first Sentinel-class stationed in Alaska in 2017– USCGC Anthony Petit, and USCGC Bailey Barco. They all replaced smaller, cramped 110-foot Island-class cutters, which dated back to the Reagan Administration.  

The Coast Guard commissioned its newest cutter, Coast Guard Cutter Earl Cunningham (WPC 1159), for official entry into its service fleet during a ceremony held in Kodiak, Alaska, Aug. 11, 2025. The ceremony was presided over by Adm. Kevin Lunday, acting commandant of the Coast Guard, and members of the Cunningham family were also in attendance, including the cutter’s sponsor, Penney Helmer, who is also the granddaughter of Earl Cunningham. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by PA3 Carmen Caver)

Armament includes a Mk 38 Mod 2 25mm gun forward and four flex mounts for M2 .50 caliber BMGs (or anything else that can be put on those pintles) along with assorted small arms. These vessels have been operating small UAVs as of late.

The sixth FRC headed to Alaska, the future USCGC Frederick Mann (WPC 1160), was delivered by Bollinger last month and should arrive in Alaskan waters in the coming weeks.
With 67 FRCs contracted by the USCG, and six now serving in the Persian Gulf, the service is negotiating with Bollinger for another 10-to-12 of these hardy vessels.

Two ways to bite the frigate apple

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In June 2021, the Navy announced that Naval Station Everett would be the future home of the first 12 of 20 Constellation-class frigates. The new ships, a variant of the proven Franco-Italian FREMM multipurpose frigate, which has almost two dozen hulls in the water, teased a rapid build-up as they were more or less “off the shelf.”

Except that the Navy wanted to change almost everything on the design.

200430-N-NO101-150 WASHINGTON (April 30, 2020) An artist rendering of the guided-missile frigate FFG(X). The new small surface combatant will have multi-mission capability to conduct air warfare, anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, electronic warfare, and information operations. (U.S. Navy graphic/Released)

Four years later, and the late and over-budget first frigate of the class, the future USS Constellation (FFG-62), is only 10 percent complete— while the design is yet to be finalized by Big Navy and approved!

It is thought that she will only be delivered in 2029 if no other problems arise.

As Fincantieri Marinette Marine, the builder of the FFG-62s, is also the same yard that had massive issues with the Freedom-class littoral combat ships, which are still trying to get right 20 years into that program, the prospects for 2029 do not seem bright.

Meanwhile, the Royal Australian Navy this week announced it has gone for 10 new upgraded Mogami-class frigates from Mitsubishi in Japan.

The proposed RAN Mogami

The proposed RAN Mogami

The proposed RAN Mogami

The ships will carry the same 32-cell VLS and 16 anti-ship missiles as Constellation, and will have a phased array radar and helicopter/UAV facilities as well as an ASW capability. The Mogamis will only have a 10-cell SeaRam, rather than the 21-cell RAM of Constellation.

With longer legs than the 6,000nm ranged Connies, the RAN Mogamis will be able to steam 10,000nm. They also have a much more capable gun, a full 5″/62 Mk 45, rather than the 57mm Bofors of the Connies. Plus, they will have a set of ASW tubes, which Connie will not.

As the agreement could see steel cut as early as 2026, and MHI has a track record of building Mogamis in less than three years per hull, it is feasible that the Aussies could see their first new Japanese-built frigate in 2029.

How about that?

Semper Paratus: Sandbox edition

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Today is the 235th anniversary of the circa 1790 founding of Alexander Hamilton’s old Revenue Cutter Service/Revenue Marine, which became today’s U.S. Coast Guard.

It is also the rough 35th anniversary of the beginning of the USCG’s continuing service in the Arabian and Persian Gulfs, which is about 6,700 miles as the crow flies from the continental U.S.

When Saddam crossed the line into Kuwait on 2 August 1990, the resulting Operation Desert Storm build-up in Saudi Arabia soon saw Coast Guard Marine Safety Offices (MSOs) activate personnel to inspect the nearly 80 Ready Reserve Fleet (RRF) vessels preparing for sea duty.

Soon after, four 10-man USCG LEDETs and a 7-man staff liaison team deployed to the Gulf to work from U.S. and allied vessels to inspect shipping.

USCG LEDET on a Turkish ship during Desert Shield

The first Iraqi ship impounded, Zanoobia, was on 4 September by a LEDET team from USS Goldsborough (DDG 20). Once the shooting started as Desert Shield became Desert Storm, LEDET personnel helped clear Iraqi oil platforms, securing 11 such platforms and aiding in the capture of 23 Iraqi prisoners, with one of the busiest being on the OHP-class frigate USS Nicholas (FFG-47).

Something like 60 percent of the 600 boardings carried out by U.S. forces were either led by or supported with the USCG LEDETs– which shows how busy those 40 guys were!

Further, 950 USCGR personnel were activated to support Desert Storm, with over half of those being in Port Security Units.

As noted by the USCG Historian’s Office:

  • On September 14th, PSU 303 (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) became the first Port Security Unit deployed overseas when it was assigned to Al Damman, Saudi Arabia.
  • On September 22nd, PSU 301 (Buffalo, New York) deployed to Al Jubayl, Saudi Arabia, and on November 14th, PSU 302 (Port Clinton, Ohio) deployed to Bahrain.
  • These PSUs featured the first Coast Guard women to serve in combat roles, including female machine gunners assigned to “Raider” tactical Port Security Unit boats.

The first allied craft into Kuwait’s Mina Ash Shuwaikh Harbor on 21 April 1991 was a Coast Guard Raider tactical port security boat from PSU 301, which gingerly led a procession of multinational vessels into the harbor.

Members of the U.S. Coast Guard Port Security Unit 302 patrol the harbor aboard a Navy harbor patrol boat during Operation Desert Shield.

Finally, to address the ecological nightmare that occurred once Saddam ordered scorched earth on the Kuwait oilfields during the liberation, on 13 February 1991, two USCG HU-25A Falcon jets, equipped with AIREYE side airborne looking radar (SILAR) and oil detection equipment, flew from Air Station Cape Cod to Saudi Arabia, supported by two Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules cargo aircraft from Air Station Clearwater packed with ground crew, spare aviation parts and support packages.

The Falcons were deployed for 84 days and mapped over 40,000 square miles of the Persian Gulf. They logged 427 flight hours in the region and maintained an aircraft readiness rate of over 96 percent. These flights provided daily updates on the size and direction of the spill.

Post Desert Storm, with LEDETs continuing work with the 5th Fleet Maritime Interception Force adjacent to Operation Southern Watch from 1992 onward, in November 2002, the all-USCG Patrol Forces Southwest Asia (PATFORSWA) was stood up with what would eventually become six 110-foot Island class cutters (USCGC Adak, Aquidneck, Baranof, Maui, Monomoy, and Wrangell).

Persian Gulf (April 27, 2005) – Coast Guardsmen aboard U.S Coast Guard Cutter Monomoy (WPB 1326) wave goodbye to the guided missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 74) after the first underway fuel replenishment (UNREP) between a U.S. Navy cruiser and a U.S. Coast Guard Cutter. Antietam completed fuel replenishment with the Monomoy in about two hours and saved the 110-foot patrol boat a four-hour trip to the nearest refueling station. Antietam and Monomoy are conducting maritime security operations (MSO) in the Persian Gulf as part of Commander, Task Force Five Eight CTF-58). U.S. Navy photo by Journalist Seaman Joseph Ebalo (RELEASED)

7/25/2007. NORTH ARABIAN GULF-Petty Officer 3rd Class William J. Burke performs a security sweep aboard a tanker ship in the North Arabian Gulf. Burke, a machinery technician, is part of Law Enforcement Detachment 106, which is deployed in the NAG to help train Iraqi Navy and Marine personnel in boarding procedures and tactics. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Public Affairs Specialist 2nd Class Nathan Henise.

As it had in Operation Desert Storm, the Coast Guard deployed port security units, law enforcement detachments, and patrol boats to the Middle East to support Operation Iraqi Freedom and the Global War on Terrorism. Adak captured the first Iraqi maritime prisoners of the war, whose patrol boat had been destroyed upstream by an AC-130 gunship.

USCG small boat team conducting operations in the Gulf – 31 August 2022

In OIF, LEDETs deployed on Coast Guard and Navy patrol craft continued to board and inspect vessels in the Northern Arabian Gulf. As a member of one of these LEDETs, DC3 Nathan B. “Nate” Bruckenthal died when boarding an explosives-laden dhow that detonated near USS Firebolt (PC-10).

Today, PATFORSWA is still very much in business with six new 154-foot Fast Response Cutters (USCGC Charles Moulthrope, Robert Goldman, Glen Harris, Emlen Tunnell, John Scheuerman, and Clarence Sutphin Jr) replacing the old 110s in 2021-22.

220822-A-KS490-1182 STRAIT OF HORMUZ (Aug. 22, 2022) From the left, U.S. Coast Guard fast response cutters USCGC Glen Harris (WPC 1144), USCGC John Scheuerman (WPC 1146), USCGC Emlen Tunnell (WPC 1145) and USCGC Clarence Sutphin Jr. (WPC 1147) transit the Strait of Hormuz, Aug. 22. The cutters are forward-deployed to U.S. 5th Fleet to help ensure maritime security and stability across the Middle East. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Noah Martin)

With some 300 personnel assigned, it is the largest Coast Guard command outside of the U.S.

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