The Coast Guard awarded three preliminary design contracts for the service’s new Offshore Patrol Cutter last week, the service announced.
Bollinger Shipyards in Lockport, La., Eastern Shipbuilding in Panama City, Fla. and General Dynamics, Bath Iron Works (BIW) in Bath, Maine won a collected $65 million firm fixed price contracts to design a replacement for the Coast Guard’s aging medium endurance cutter fleet
The 270-foot Famous-class and 210-foot Reliance-class cutters are decades old ships which the Coast Guard has said it needs to badly replace.
Offshore Patrol Vessels are primarily used by the service to patrol the U.S. economic exclusion zone in missions ranging from anti trafficking to enforcement of fishing regulations.
BIW announced it would partner with Spanish shipbuilder Navantia and L-3 Communications for the company’s bid. The BIW bid appears to be based on Navantia’s Buques de Acción Marítima (BAM) — a modular ship design is based on a diesel electric drive system.
Bollinger is partnered with Gibbs & Cox Maritime Solutions, L3 Communications, and Damen Shipyards Group for the yard’s bid. The company is currently building the Coast Guard’s fast response cutters.
Eastern Shipbuilding Group has teamed with STX Marine and Northrop Grumman for the Offshore Patrol Cutter Design, according to the company.
Each company will work for 18 months on their designs before the Coast Guard selects one design for the 25 cutter class.
