Coast Guard Must Plan for Arctic Change

By John C. Marcario, Assistant Editor

The Coast Guard needs to recapitalize its polar ice breaker fleet, the service's surface acquisition program manager said during the Sea-Air-Space Exposition at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, National Harbor, Md., May 4.

“A lot of things are going to change up in the Arctic, and one thing we have to do is figure out what the Coast Guard has got to do with that change to be ready to handle that,” Capt. Bruce Baffer said during a presentation on the show floor. He offered no time line on when a decision would be made, but said the service will continue studying the region.

“We are going to need something … but we are in the real early stages of that planning now,” he said.

The service has three ice breakers, but two are not in active use and the third, Healy, is used mainly for research missions in the Arctic.

Baffer said the flagship National Security Cutter (NSC), Bertholf, will go on an operational mission this summer as it prepares to be accepted into the fleet in 2010. It has remained in “commission special” status since being preliminary accepted in May 2008. The second NSC, Wasche, is 80 percent finished, the hull of the third NSC, Stratton, will be laid this summer. A contract for the fourth NSC, Hamilton, is projected to have a contract awarded on it in fiscal 2011.