Construction of first USCG polar security cutter set to start

Image: USG

While shipyard work on the Coast Guard’s first polar security cutter has been under way for quite some time, thus far it has been on prototype modules. Now the project is set to move into the construction phase.

The U.S. Coast Guard/U.S. Navy Integrated Program Office received approval Dec. 19 to begin to build the first polar security cutter (PSC). The PSC is the first heavy polar icebreaker constructed in the United States in more than five decades. The work is being performed by Bollinger Mississippi Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi, the prime contractor for design and construction of the future PSC fleet.

This decision continues work on the polar security cutter that has been underway since the summer of 2023 as part of an innovative approach to shorten the delivery timeline of these critical national assets.

The approval incorporates eight prototype fabrication assessment units (PFAUs) that are currently underway or planned. The PFAU effort was structured as a progressive crawl-walk-run approach to help the shipbuilder strengthen skills across the workforce and refine construction methods before full-rate production begins. The Coast Guard says that the PFAU process has prepared the government and the shipbuilder to begin full-scale production of the PSC class, resulting in more precise, cost-effective and reliable construction processes.

The Coast Guard’s operational polar icebreaking fleet currently consists of one heavy icebreaker, the 399-foot Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star that was commissioned in 1976, and one medium icebreaker, the 420-foot Coast Guard Cutter Healy that was commissioned in 1999. The service recently acquired a commercially available polar icebreaker to provide additional presence and mission capability in the Arctic.