Tag Archives: MSST

USCG Update: Sail drones arrive, Snow Hawks New Special Missions Command

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Lots of updates to our favorite mini-Navy.

Great Lakes sail drone summer stock

A Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessel operates with the fast response Coast Guard cutter Robert Goldman in the Arabian Gulf during Exercise Phantom Scope, Oct. 7, 2022. During the bilateral exercise between the United States and the United Kingdom, USVs operated in conjunction with crewed ships and naval command centers in Bahrain. Credit: Navy Chief Petty Officer Roland Franklin VIRIN: 221007-N-NS602-1218

“Leveraging a contract awarded by the Coast Guard to enhance maritime domain awareness, the Great Lakes District will deploy autonomous drones to support Coast Guard missions on the Great Lakes from May to October.”

The drones will be 16 Saildrone Voyager SD-2050 USVs under a $15.5 million contract. The SD-2050 is 33 feet long, draws just over six feet under its fin keel, and has an almost 20-foot-tall wing (sail). All electric with solar panels in the wing (sail), it has a 3.5 kW peak draw, uses an electric motor for cruising at 5 knots, and is good for 100 days between service stops.

Saildrone Voyager SD-2050 deploys on Lake Erie as it begins its border security and MDA mission for the US Coast Guard in the Great Lakes.  Equipped with radar, cameras, AI collision avoidance, and sensors scanning 300 meters deep, they monitor vessel traffic, illegal activity, and support emergency response. Via Saildrone

From USCG PAO:

The drones are wind- and solar-powered vessels the Coast Guard will use to monitor the Great Lakes, gather critical weather data for emergency response planning, track illicit activity, and keep maritime borders safe.

The autonomous vessels are highly visible, equipped with radar, cameras, and collision-avoidance artificial intelligence, and monitored continuously by human operators who can take manual control if needed.

Sail drones are equipped with sensors focused solely on maritime domain awareness, providing critical information on vessel activities, including vessels in distress or engaged in illegal operations.

A sizzle reel of Saildrone operations from last year, when the company’s USVs sailed 383,674nm in 10,217 drone days on the water, and identified 2.5 million surface contacts.

The U.S. Coast Guard Great Lakes (District 9), headquartered in Cleveland, manages operations across all five Great Lakes, the Saint Lawrence Seaway, and 6,700 miles of shoreline and 1,500 miles of Canadian border with roughly 6,000 personnel

Jayhawk snow games

The MH-60T det from U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Sitka recently worked on an avalanche training exercise with the Alaska National Guard and local first responders. In doing so, some incredible shots were captured by AUX Don Kluting, PA2 John Hightower, and AST2 Grooms.

Of note, a Coast Guard helicopter crew from Air Station Kodiak flew nearly 620 miles to rescue two stranded hikers from Makushin Volcano on the remote Unalaska Island. To put that in perspective, that’s the same distance from Massachusetts to North Carolina!

The USCG has been flying the ’60 since 1989, first with the HH-60J and now as the MH-60T– which includes converted surplus USN SH-60Fs.

Moving forward, the service aims to have an all-Jayhawk heli fleet with 127 aircraft replacing the smaller MH-65 Dolphin.

Special Missions Command

The Coast Guard is standing up a new Special Missions Command to oversee its deployable specialized forces.

Slated to form at the start of FY27 (1 October 2026), the SMC will be based at Coast Guard C5I Service Center facility in Kearneysville, West Virginia, about 70 miles as the crow flies from D.C.

Members from the Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team East (MSRT) patrol the East River during the 79th United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 26, 2024. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Breanna Boardman)

It will fold in the current two Maritime Security Response Teams (MSRT-East, Chesapeake; MSRT-West San Diego), two Tactical Law Enforcement Teams (PACTACLET in San Diego and TACLET South in Opa Locka), seven Maritime Safety and Security Teams (MSST Seattle (91101), MSST Kings Bay (91108), MSST Miami (91114), MSST New York (91106), MSST Houston (91104), MSST New Orleans (91112), MSST Cape Cod (91110)), three Regional Dive Lockers (RDLE Portsmouth, RDLW San Diego, and RDLP Honolulu) and the National Strike Force (CBRN) team along with the eight USCGR Port Security Units.

Members from the Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team East (MSRT) patrol the East River during the 79th United Nations General Assembly, Sept. 26, 2024. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Breanna Boardman)

Part of the SMC’s buildout will be an $80 million investment to add more than 650 personnel to the service in addition to those being merged. When fully constituted, the SMC should have somewhere around 3,000 personnel, counting reserves and support elements.

The move is a return to the Deployable Operations Group, or DOG, concept that existed from 2007 to 2013, with operational control returning to regional commands once it was disestablished and replaced with the more loosely formed Deployable Specialized Forces (DSF) moniker. From what I gather, DOG wasn’t stood down because it didn’t work, but rather as a money-saving measure and so that local area commanders could keep more control over their shiny local counter-T/high-risk/high-profile units.

In other words, you can look at this as more of a USCG version of NSWC, which is probably a good thing.

A Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team (MSRT) East patch is shown August 7, 2025, aboard the USCGC Richard Synder (WPC 1127) in Portsmouth, Virginia. The MSRT is a deployable specialized forces unit that conducts counterterrorism and direct-action missions, such as high-risk law enforcement boarding procedures and CBRNE (chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive) threats. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Christine Bills)

The Coast Guard’s ninjas

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While the Navy has the SEAL platoons that regularly deploy, and each ship frigate size and above has a multi-section VBSS team (blue jackets that have passed SRF-B and get three additional weeks training on insertion, collecting biometrics and team tactics), the Coast Guard also has similar programs.

Roughly the Coast Guard’s version of a VBSS team is a Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) while the nearest thing to a special operations unit is the Maritime Safety and Security Team or MSST and its counter-terror snake-eater unit, the MSRT.

Some 12 MSSTs (numbered 91101-91114) are spread around the country, co-located near high-value U.S. Navy bases (think Kitsap, Norfolk, Pearl, Kings Bay, et al) and ports. Composed of 75~ members, all they do all day is train for taking down high-risk maritime targets inside U.S.-controlled waters and hone such rare skill sets as underwater port security, and non-compliant vessel boardings. They also deploy abroad (CENTCOM, Guantanamo Bay, etc as needed). Further, all of the USCG’s canine teams are assigned to MSSTs.

They get very little press, but a lot of good training and equipment. If things ever get hot, they would be the ones looking for enemy frogmen, hijacked LNG tankers, CBRNE threats and USS Cole-style small boat attacks.

A member of U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team 91101 Seattle stands watch in a ladderwell while his fellow boarding team members complete a sweep of Royal Canadian navy Kingston-class coastal defense vessel Yellowknife during a Trident Fury exercise in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, May 12, 2015. In order to complete their mission, the MSST team had to search every compartment on the vessel, subdue any potential aggressors and find a fake bomb that had been planted by a training team leader. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Katelyn Shearer)

A member of U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team 91101 Seattle stands watch in a ladderwell while his fellow boarding team members complete a sweep of Royal Canadian navy Kingston-class coastal defense vessel Yellowknife during a Trident Fury exercise in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, May 12, 2015. In order to complete their mission, the MSST team had to search every compartment on the vessel, subdue any potential aggressors and find a fake bomb that had been planted by a training team leader. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Katelyn Shearer)

 

Members of U.S Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team 91101 Seattle handcuff Ensign Jacob Sibilski, a crew member of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Active, a 210-foot medium endurance cutter homeported in Port Angeles, Wash., while conducting a boarding of Royal Canadian navy Kingston-class coastal defense vessel Yellowknife as part of a Trident Fury exercise in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, May 12, 2015. Sibilski was acting as the captain of a Russian fishing vessel that had experienced a mutiny aboard. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Katelyn Shearer) Click for hi rez

Members of U.S Coast Guard Maritime Safety and Security Team 91101 Seattle handcuff Ensign Jacob Sibilski, a crew member of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Active, a 210-foot medium endurance cutter homeported in Port Angeles, Wash., while conducting a boarding of Royal Canadian navy Kingston-class coastal defense vessel Yellowknife as part of a Trident Fury exercise in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, May 12, 2015. Sibilski was acting as the captain of a Russian fishing vessel that had experienced a mutiny aboard. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Katelyn Shearer) Click for hi rez

You have to love the Close Quarter Battle Receiver (CQBR) upper on the Mk18 rifles. We are talking 10-inch barrels here. Also note the FX Simunition marking cartridges in the clear mags (to ensure safety), blue “cold” markings and solid plastic Ring’s bluegun sidearms. Nothing like keeping it safe.

Combat Gallery Sunday : The Martial Art of Ken Smith

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Much as once a week I like to take time off to cover warships (Wednesdays), on Sunday, I like to cover military art and the painters, illustrators, sculptors and the like that produce them.

Combat Gallery Sunday : The Martial Art of Ken Smith

While I often cover artists who are no longer with us, Smith is very much still current.

According to Radford University:

Smith currently resides in Pulaski, Virginia and is an assistant professor of graphic design at Radford University. Before this, he lived in the Knoxville area for over thirty years and is an alumnus of the University of Tennessee. He also holds a MA from Syracuse University (Syracuse, New York) and an MFA from the University of Hartford (Hartford, Connecticut). He is a member of the Coast Guard Art Program and has twice won their prestigious George Grey Award of Artistic Excellence. His paintings are featured at both the East Tennessee Historical Society and the McClung Museum in Knoxville, Tennessee, as well as at Fort Loudoun State Historic Area museum in Vonore, Tennessee.

Without further interruption:

USCG Photo: 1090892 Each year the United States Coast Guard recognizes one artist from among that year’s many submissions to the Coast Guard Art Program (COGAP) to receive the coveted George Gray Award for Artistic Excellence. This year’s recipient is Radford University professor Ken Smith for his painting, Air Station Savannah, depicting AET2 Taylor Anderson (Avionics Electrical Technician) pausing in her work aboard the HH-65 Dolphin helicopter at Coast Guard Air Station Savannah, near Savannah, Georgia. This painting has been on loan to the Pritzker Military Library in Chicago for years. (Click to big up)

USCG Photo: 1090892
Each year the United States Coast Guard recognizes one artist from among that year’s many submissions to the Coast Guard Art Program (COGAP) to receive the coveted George Gray Award for Artistic Excellence. 2009s recipient was Radford University professor Ken Smith for his painting, Air Station Savannah, depicting AET2 Taylor Anderson (Avionics Electrical Technician) pausing in her work aboard the HH-65 Dolphin helicopter at Coast Guard Air Station Savannah, near Savannah, Georgia. This painting has been on loan to the Pritzker Military Library in Chicago for years. (Click to big up)

Potential Coast Guard artists apply for acceptance into the COGAP program, and if accepted, are then allowed to submit works for possible inclusion in the Coast Guard’s Permanent Art Collection. The 2009 additions to the collection include 34 works by 19 artists. Of these, one work is selected to receive the George Gray Award for Artistic Excellence. Smith’s painting, Air Station Savannah, was granted this honor for 2009. A long time participant in the Coast Guard Art Program for the past two years, Smith was one of only six artists who were chosen for official Coast Guard Artist deployment in 2008, from which the painting Air Station Savannah was created.

Smith also won the GGAAE for “MSST: Sighting Down Threats” which shows a Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST) from St. Marys, Georgia is shown securing an area of the port as an HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter prepares to drop crew members onto a tanker to determine whether the vessel is engaged in illegal activity or otherwise poses a threat.

USCG Photo 1107375 Ken Smith Pulaski, Va. Oil. Members of the Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST) in St. Marys, Ga., secure an area of the port as an HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter moves in on a tanker on which crew failed to provide identification. Poised in the doorway of the helicopter are crew members who will be dropped by vertical insertion onto the tanker to investigate whether the vessel is engaged in illegal activity or otherwise poses a threat. Each MSST mem- ber on the ground sights his MK-18 M-4 carbine rifle in a different direction. (Click to big up)

USCG Photo 1107375
Ken Smith Pulaski, Va. Oil. Members of the Maritime Safety and Security Team (MSST) in St. Marys, Ga., secure an area of the port as an HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter moves in on a tanker on which crew failed to provide identification. Poised in the doorway of the helicopter are crew members who will be dropped by vertical insertion onto the tanker to investigate whether the vessel is engaged in illegal activity or otherwise poses a threat. Each MSST member on the ground sights his MK-18 M-4 carbine rifle in a different direction. (Click to big up)

“My paintings generally tend toward military subject matter, so I was naturally attracted to the MSSTs and their anti-terrorism mission,” said Smith. “In discussing their work… [the team’s] no-nonsense attitude really appealed to my sense of drama and of course to the idea of Semper Paratus. It also had a bit of a Star Trek flavor that I find pretty irresistible.” -Smith told USCG Media Affairs

Ken Smith's new painting, Steady As She Goes, has been accepted into the permanent collection of the U.S. Coast Guard. In the artwork a U.S. Coast Guard service member aboard the Cutter Hollyhock steadies the hoist hook used to deploy oil skimming equipment during a multi-agency and international contingency exercise on the Detroit River. The exercise aims to enhance cooperation and coordinate response to possible oil spills and other environmental mishaps among different agencies. The cutter is a 225-foot seagoing buoy tender.

Ken Smith’s new painting, Steady As She Goes, has been accepted into the permanent collection of the U.S. Coast Guard. In the artwork a U.S. Coast Guard service member aboard the Cutter Hollyhock steadies the hoist hook used to deploy oil skimming equipment during a multi-agency and international contingency exercise on the Detroit River. The exercise aims to enhance cooperation and coordinate response to possible oil spills and other environmental mishaps among different agencies. The cutter is a 225-foot seagoing buoy tender.

Besides Coast Guard works, he is well versed in other subjects of military history.

" At First Light" THE GWINNETT ARTILLERY at the BATTLE of FORT SANDERS. By Ken Smith

” At First Light” THE GWINNETT ARTILLERY at the BATTLE of FORT SANDERS. By Ken Smith

"Kollaa Holds!" by Ken Smith

“Kollaa Holds!” by Ken Smith

"Abashed the devils stood" By Ken Smith

“Abashed the devils stood” By Ken Smith

Oh Comrades, come rally the battle of Boridino. By Ken Smith

Oh Comrades, come rally the battle of Borodino. By Ken Smith

More on Smith: Please visit his Gallery, Blog,  and tumblr.

Thank you for your work, sir.