The following is the March 5, 2025, Congressional Research Service report, Coast Guard Cutter Procurement: Background and Issues for Congress.
From the report
Coast Guard plans call for procuring a combination of National Security Cutters (NSCs), Offshore Patrol Cutters (OPCs) and Fast Response Cutters (FRCs) as replacements for 90 earlier-generation Coast Guard high-endurance cutters, medium-endurance cutters, and patrol craft. The Coast Guard’s 2004 Program of Record (POR) for these ships called for procuring a total of 8 NSCs; a total of 11 were eventually procured. The POR calls for procuring a total of 25 OPCs. The first OPC was funded in FY2018. The POR originally called for procuring 58 PRCs but has been amended since 2004 and now calls for procuring a total of 71. Sixty-five OPCs have been procured through FY2024.
National Security Cutters are the Coast Guard’s largest and most capable general-purpose cutters; they are replacing the Coast Guard’s 12 Hamilton-class high-endurance cutters. NSCs have an estimated average procurement cost of about $670 million per ship. Congress has fully funded the procurement of 11 NSCs—three more than the 8 in the Coast Guard’s 2004 POR. The Coast Guard’s proposed FY2025 budget requests $7.0 in procurement funding for the NSC program, and the Coast Guard’s FY2025 Unfunded Priorities List (UPL) includes an item for an additional $50.0 million in procurement funding for activities relating to the 11th NSC. Ten NSCs have entered service; the Coast Guard commissioned the 10th into service on April 20, 2024. The 11th is under construction.
Offshore Patrol Cutters are intended to replace the Coast Guard’s 29 aged medium-endurance cutters. Coast Guard officials describe the OPC program and the Polar Security Cutter (PSC) program (which is covered in another CRS report) as the service’s highest acquisition priorities. As of April 2024, the OPC program’s total estimated procurement cost was $12,833 million (i.e., about $12.8 billion), or an average of about $513.3 million per ship. The first four OPCs are being built by Eastern Shipbuilding Group (ESG) of Panama City, FL. On June 30, 2022, the Coast Guard announced that it had awarded a fixed-price incentive (firm target) contract to Austal USA of Mobile, AL, to produce up to 11 OPCs (i.e., OPCs 5 through 15). As of March 2025, the first OPC had not yet entered service. The fifth OPC (the first to be built by Austal USA) began construction in August 2024.
The OPC program has experienced significant cost growth and schedule delays. July 2023 Government Accountability Office (GAO) testimony on the OPC program stated that “OPC’s acquisition cost estimate [which includes both procurement cost and other costs] increased from $12.5 billion to $17.6 billion between the program’s 2012 and 2022 life-cycle cost estimates.” A February 2025 GAO report states that delivery of the first OPC has been delayed more than four years, and that the program’s Initial Operational Capability (IOC) date is projected to be June 2029, a 78-month (6.5-year) delay from the originally projected IOC date of December 2022. The Coast Guard’s proposed FY2025 budget requests $530.0 million in procurement funding for the construction of (once again) the sixth OPC and other OPC program costs, and states that the requested FY2024 procurement funding would now be for the construction of the fifth OPC rather than the sixth.
Fast Response Cutters are considerably smaller and less expensive than OPCs; they are replacing the Coast Guard’s 49 aging Island-class patrol boats. The Coast Guard’s FY2020 budget submission estimated the total acquisition cost of the 58 cutters intended for domestic use at $3.748 billion, or an average of about $65 million per ship. A total of 65 FRCs have been procured through FY2024. As of October 30, 2024, 57 FRCs have been commissioned into service. The Coast Guard’s proposed FY2025 budget requests $216.0 million in procurement funding for the FRC program for the procurement of two more FRCs for operations in the Indo-Pacific region, plus additional FRC program costs.
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