Tag Archives: USCG TACLET

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)

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.

Coastie Update: Increasingly International

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One thread that I have noticed is that the personnel and cash-strapped U.S. Coast Guard is plugging in a lot more joint spaces, both within DOD and with international partners. While a lot of people have some sort of misunderstanding that the USCG is just a guy sitting in a fan boat on the iced-over Great Lakes in winter, or some poor shlub cleaning the weeds from a channel marker in the middle of the Ohio River, they are also spanning the globe.

Three examples:

James

The 418-foot National Security Cutter James (WMSL 754) just returned home to Charleston, following a 113-day patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

During the patrol, James’ crew disrupted illegal narcotics smuggling, interdicting 12,909 kilograms of cocaine and 7,107 pounds of marijuana valued at over $380 million. While in theater, James interdicted eight drug-smuggling vessels and apprehended 23 suspected traffickers, including one low-profile vessel laden with contraband.

James’ crew conducted multiple joint operations with foreign partner nations such as Ecuador and Mexico. James conducted a passing exercise with the Mexican Navy’s ARM Chiapas. During the exercise, James practiced close-quarters tactical maneuvering and landed the Chiapas’ Panther helicopter on deck. 230806-G-G0100-1001

If you take a look at the crew that shipped out on the four-month East Pac cruise, not only do you see the Coast Guard blue, but there are also four contractors (top left) for the Scan Eagle UAV, as well as a contingent of two Marines, a Soldier, and five Bluejackets (center) who most likely provided medical, commo, and terp support in the region. At the stern is a HITRON MH-65 detachment of airborne precision rifle experts. 

Coast Guard Cutter James Port Everglades, Florida, Oct 26, 2023. 231026-G-FH885-1002

Horne

The 154-foot Fast Response Cutter Terrell Horne (WPC-1131) returned home to California last week after a 52-day patrol across 4,000 miles of the Eastern Pacific, conducting operations and international engagements with Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, and Costa Rica. That’s a lot of time and distance for a 154-foot boat, a platform that is proving very adept at ranging far and wide.

The crew of the Terrell Horne deployed in support of multiple missions, including Operations Green Flash, Albatross, Martillo, and Southern Shield, within the 11th Coast Guard District’s area of responsibility. During the patrol, Terrell Horne’s crew conducted a range of missions encompassing law enforcement, counter-drug operations, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing enforcement, and search and rescue operations.

Dauntless

Meanwhile, in the Caribbean, the Portsmouth-based RN Type 45/Daring-class destroyer HMS Dauntless (D33) is currently serving as the West Indies station ship and, with a USCG Tactical Law Enforcement Team (TACLET) aboard, spent the summer running successful interdiction missions with the ship’s embarked Wildcat helicopter and RM 42 Commando snipers riding shotgun.

HMS Dauntless flies the Royal Navy Ensign and Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) flag from the sea boats prior to boarding a suspect vessel in the Caribbean Sea.

HMS Dauntless’ embarked Law Enforcement Detachment team (LEDET) go to ‘boarding stations’ after finding a suspect vessel in the Caribbean Sea.

HMS Dauntless conducting a drugs intervention/rescue mission whilst operating in the Caribbean region.

HMS Dauntless conducting a drugs intervention/rescue mission whilst operating in the Caribbean region.

HMS Dauntless’ embarked Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) leave the ship in sea boats in preparation to apprehending a suspect vessel in the Caribbean Sea.