In the wake of the award of a $745 million design and construction contract for the Coast Guard’s next generation heavy icebreaker in April of 2019 efforts have continued to procure additional icebreakers for a more significant U.S. military presence in the Arctic.
The vessel now under contract to VT Halter Marine Inc. is to be built at the company’s Pascagoula, Miss. shipyard, with deliver scheduled for 2024, according to the U.S. Naval Institute. The icebreaker is considered vital for national missions, response to critical events and a military presence in polar regions.
VT Halter Marine has a federal contract to build up to three new Polar Security Cutters for the Coast Guard. If all options are exercised, those vessels will cost about $650 million, and $940 million when including government furnished equipment, according to the online publication Maritime Executive.
But wait, maybe there’s more.
Maritime Executive noted on July 11 that when President Donald Trump visited the U.S. Southern Command headquarters in Doral, Florida on July 10 he announced that his administration is working on a plan to procure as many as 10 icebreakers.
“We have under construction right now the largest icebreaker in the world, and we’re going to be trying to get, if we can, an extra 10 icebreakers,” Trump said.
The president offered no details on whom his administration is talking to, saying only that “we’re seeing if we can do a really good deal where you could have them very fast, you know about that, and we’re working on it.”
“A memorandum issued last month by the White House solicited alternative options for renewing the aging Coast Guard icebreaker fleet. It requires the department of Homeland Security to identify icebreaker leasing options provided by partner nations. That memorandum, Maritime Executive noted, also required the federal agency to evaluate “defensive armament adequate to defend against threats by near-peer competitors” and “the potential for nuclear-powered propulsion.”
When asked for more details on the president’s comments that the federal government may procure up to 10 more icebreakers, Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, spoke about the importance of safeguarding the Arctic region for national security, but did not specifically reference Trump’s comments about a deal on more icebreakers.
Sullivan has been advocating for some time for more icebreakers for the Coast Guard.
“We are an Arctic nation because of Alaska, and I’m grateful that both my colleagues in Congress and the White House — as evidenced by the recently-released White House memo on safeguarding our national interests in the Arctic region — appreciate the strategic importance of the Arctic to our national security,” Sullivan said.
“At long last, the federal government has woken up to the fact that the Arctic is a region of great strategic competition. Unfortunately, our adversaries are well ahead of the United States when it comes to Arctic infrastructure. We have one heavy and one medium functioning Polar-class icebreakers, while Russia has more than 50.”
Sullivan said that as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he has fought for five years to bring Arctic issues to the forefront, including in the FY19 NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) to authorize the building of six such icebreakers. He made no mention of any deal Trump said he is working on for additional icebreakers.
