Voted Off the Island: The USCG’s Deepwater FRC Program
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On Sept 16/05, the U.S. Coast Guard and the Lockheed Martin/ Northrop Grumman joint venture Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS) completed the preliminary design review for the 58 Fast Response Cutters (FRC). “The FRC is being designed to provide the Coast Guard with a state-of-the-art patrol craft that is capable of conducting simultaneous missions,” said ICGS Deepwater’s FRC program manager Mike Duthu.
That success has been followed by delays and failures, on multiple fronts. More than 2 years after the Coast Guard asked ICGS to accelerate the Fast Response Cutter (FRC) program timeline by more than 10 years, in order to hasten replacement of their rapidly deteriorating Island Class patrol vessels, the Coast Guard is still waiting for replacements of any type to arrive. The USCG’s 30-year old patrol boats soldier on, less the 8 “upgraded” Island Class ships whose hull cracking has now made them unfit for service. Another 41 Island Class vessels still ply US and international waters.
The Island Class’ replacement program fared little better. In February 2006, the Coast Guard’s Deepwater system-of-systems Program ‘temporarily’ suspended design work on the FRC-A program due to technical risk. That suspension remains in place, and it soon became clear that Congress was unwilling to fund further FRC design work. FRC-A has effectively been canceled.
In August 2006, National Defense magazine was reporting that the Coast Guard was looking at off-the-shelf patrol ships instead. On March 14, 2007, the Coast Guard announced that it had terminated ICGS’ responsibilities for the Deepwater Fast Response Cutter-B off-the-shelf acquisition, and reassigned the FRC project to the Coast Guard’s Acquisition Directorate. They expected to release a formal RFP for 12 off-the-shelf FRC-B patrol boats in May 2007, but that didn’t happen until summer 2007.
What happened? What will happen next? DID reviews, including the latest news that the off-the-shelf FRC-B cutter buy will be late…
- Behind the Programs: The Modernization Imperative
- Down on the Islands: The Suspended Modernization
- Not-So Fast Response: The Catch With Composite Cutters
- March 2007: What Next?
- Program Updates & Contracts [updated]
- Additional Readings: Background
- Additional Readings: News, Official Reports & Statements
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