Coast Guard seeks info on medium icebreaker options from US, international industry
The service wants a ship that can be launched within three years of a contract award being issued, according to a recent request for information.
The service wants a ship that can be launched within three years of a contract award being issued, according to a recent request for information.
The contract award comes as President Donald Trump has been publicly calling for the United States to buy dozens of new icebreakers.
"There's a defense industrial base reality to this, certainly as it pertains to shipbuilding and shipyard capacity," Adm. Linda Fagan told Breaking Defense.
The Polar Security Cutter has had numerous schedule and costs challenges as the first American icebreaker to be built in decades.
The Congressional Budget Office's report states the Coast Guard is working on its own new cost estimate for the heavy icebreaker program.
"Without this arrangement, we'd risk our adversaries developing an advantage in a specialized technology with vast geostrategic importance," a White House official said.
Bollinger's CEO says the deal has strengthened his company's standing in the industrial base, but analysts worry the merger is a bellwether for more consolidation to come - which could impact the Pentagon's shipbuilding plans.
The plan will include options to lease new breakers or build new nuclear-powered ships as Russia and China leap ahead of US capabilities in the Arctic.
"One of the things that we did early in my tenure was we changed (it to) Polar Security Cutter as we were trying to get the funds from the Congress, from our own department, the administration," Coast Guard Commandant Karl Schultz told Breaking Defense.