Tag Archives: coast guard drone

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

Posted on by Leave a comment

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  • $2 million to procure six Qinetiq Squad Packable Utility Robot (SPUR) and 12 mini-SPUR robots to replace outdated unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) at Strike Teams to access and sample air in confined spaces aboard commercial vessels.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).

Coast Guard stepping up to the plate with more cutter-borne drones

Posted on by Leave a comment

Insitu’s ScanEagle drone platform was chosen by the USCG last week for a $117 million contract after an RFP issued in February to provide small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) ISR services aboard the entire 12-ship National Security Cutter fleet.

ScanEagle has over a million hours in the air so far, and a stepped-up version, Integrator, has been adopted by the Marines as the RQ-21 Blackjack, so it is safe to say that it is a mature program.

The service deployed an interim sUAS capability on USCGC Stratton (WMSL-752) – an NSC based in Alameda, California – three times in 2017 and used the data gathered to refine the concept of operations and RFP requirements. During the tests, ScanEagle had directly assisted the ship’s crews in seizing more than $1.5 billion of cocaine and heroin.

Stratton with ScanEagle on catapult launcher/carrier to port and an MH-65 stbd. Note the CIWS above the LSO station in the twin hangar. Make no mistake, the NSC is a frigate-sized warship

The Coast Guard began infrastructure installation for more UAS use on their NSCs in April 2018, with plans to begin installing hardware on Cutters James in fall 2018, Munro in late winter 2019 and Bertholf in late spring or early summer 2019. NSC’s have a dual hangar which can permit a USCG helicopter (MH-65) to operate independently of the UAS det.

According to Janes, the drones will be used in a “contractor-owned, contractor-operated” program where Insitu personnel deploying with the cutter will operate the ScanEagle platform for 200 hours per 30 day period. They will also use a Ball Aerospace laser marker, light detection and ranging (LIDAR), and communications relay packages.

Although it is not mentioned, Insitu has been pushing ScanEagle with a ViDAR payload. Small, light and self-contained, ViDAR allows effective primary search with smaller UAVs and aircraft without radar, dramatically improving the cost-effectiveness of maritime operations such as search and rescue, maritime patrol, anti-piracy, anti-narcotics and border protection.

The Coast Guard has also been using smaller Puma hand-launched UAS from other platforms, such as icebreakers and buoy tenders.

Kevin Vollbrecht, an engineering development technician with Aerovironment Inc., launches a PUMA AE unmanned aircraft system from the flight deck of Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star during Operation Deep Freeze 2016 in the Southern Ocean Jan. 3, 2016. The UAS will play a role in selecting the optimal route through pack ice as the cutter transits to McMurdo Station, Antarctica. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Grant DeVuyst)

USCG Finally gets some drones

Posted on by Leave a comment

So the Coast Guard acquired 20 Aerovironment WASP III systems from the Marine Corps last year to test them out on smaller cutters (those without their own helo decks) such as the new 154-foot Sentinel class, 87-foot Maritime Protector class and so forth.

If you are unfamiliar with the WASP, its one of the smaller unmanned air vehicles (UAV- drones) out there and in fact the manufacturer calls them a “micro air vehicle.” WASP is used by the Marines down to the company level and by USAF Combat Controllers/TACP guys to see what’s just over the horizon. The WASP III is equipped with an internal Global Positioning System / Inertial Navigation System, autopilot and two onboard cameras. The entire system can function autonomously from takeoff to recovery, or be controlled by one operator using a handheld remote control unit. A little over 2-feet in wingspan and 1.25-feet long, these 1-pound UAVs can fly up to 40mph and putter out to about 2 nautical miles away.

Lt. j.g David Steele from Sector Miami Response prepares to launch a WASP III while Dr. Andrew Niccolai and Timothy Ledbetter man the ground control station. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Luke Clayton (Click to big up)

Lt. j.g David Steele from Sector Miami Response prepares to launch a WASP III while Dr. Andrew Niccolai and Timothy Ledbetter man the ground control station. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Luke Clayton (Click to big up)

From the Coast Guard’s blog:

Testing conditions the first day were optimal with seas less than one foot and minimal relative winds. Niccolai and Timothy Ledbetter, both from the Coast Guard RDC, successfully launched the WASP off the starboard bow, and the aircraft soared into the sky, marking the first time a sUAS deployed from a non-flight deck equipped cutter. The ground control station was able to receive real-time video from the wing-mounted cameras. After a 30-minute flight, the WASP was brought in for a water landing off the starboard beam, and the cutter’s crew recovered the aircraft and prepped a second airframe for launch.