The offshore patrol cutter will replace aging medium-endurance cutters. BY EDWARD LUNDQUIST
The U.S. Coast Guard’s 1,300-ton, 210-foot Relianceclass and 1,800-ton, 270-foot Famous-class mediumendurance cutters have been the workhorses of the fleet, with some more than 50 years old, but need to
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Coast Guard OUTLOOK
be retired. Even with targeted investments to keep them operationally relevant and available for service, they are still technologically obsolescent and too expensive to maintain. The new platform to replace them will be the offshore patrol cutter, or OPC, being built at Eastern Shipbuilding Group (ESG) in Panama City, Florida. The Coast Guard exercised its contract option to build the lead ship, CGC Argus (WMSM 915) – the MSM stands for maritime security cutter-medium – in September 2018. Construction has now begun and Argus is scheduled to be delivered in 2021. At the same time, the service exercised its contract option to acquire long lead-time materials for the second OPC. “The actions enable the production phase of the program, which is the largest in Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security history to date, to proceed,” said Brian Olexy, spokesperson for the Coast Guard’s Acquisition Directorate.
IMAGES COURTESY OF EASTERN SHIPBUILDING GROUP
NEW CUTTERS REPRESENT A NEW NORMAL