The Maritime 9-1-1
Written by Marty Kauchak
CGF 2009 Volume: 1 Issue: 1 (November)
As this issue of CGF was being published, Tropical Storm Ida was churning through the Gulf of Mexico and approaching landfall along the southern U.S. coast. Gulf Coastbased Coast Guard units were conducting two search and rescue (SAR) missions in advance of the storm.
This late season storm arrived as these Coast Guard units, and other service units and stations, were receiving the Rescue 21 advanced maritime communication system. On the night of November 9, a New Orleans-based Eight Coast Guard District spokesperson noted that it was too early to determine whether Rescue 21 was supporting the two SAR missions. What is certain is that after Ida makes landfall, Rescue 21 will continue to dramatically modernize and improve the way the service saves lives and protects vessels in the Gulf of Mexico and other Coast Guard areas of responsibility (AORs).
NEW EQUIPMENT AND ADVANCED CAPABILITIES
Rescue 21 is one of the Coast Guard’s top acquisition programs. The program’s total acquisition cost is $1.07 billion, according to Public Affairs Specialist First Class Thomas McKenzie, program spokesperson. For that price, Rescue 21 is replacing the nation’s outdated search and rescue communications system with new equipment and greatly enhanced capabilities— including quicker response to distress calls. The new Very High Frequency-Frequency Modulated (VHF-FM) communications system will be the nation’s primary maritime emergency system for the more than 78 million boaters and 13 million vessels that navigate coastal and intercoastal waters.
Prime contractor General Dynamics C4 Systems is leading the effort to deploy Rescue 21 throughout the service’s AORs. General Dynamics’ original industry team members included Motorola (communications equipment), BAE Systems (integration of the system onboard service ships) and CACI (network hardware, software and services). The General Dynamics C4 Systems-led team’s program of record provides new command, control and communications hardware and software, and services. The program replaces aging, obsolete VHF-FM radio communications equipment including workstations and consoles at about 270 service facilities. About 350 communications towers configured with transmit/receive antennas are overhauling the service’s legacy, short-range VHF-communication system as well as the network connecting them to facilities. About 3,000 portable radios are also being replaced.
The government/industry team has structured Rescue 21 to harness global positioning and cutting-edge communications technologies. The program’s technology enhancements close 88 known communications coverage gaps in coastal areas of the U.S., improve call clarity, enhance playback capability and improve direction finding capability to plus-or-minus 2 degrees.
And it is the system’s direction finding capability that has been credited with supporting recent rescues of mariners in distress.
One incident was the August 2009 rescue of two teenagers after their vessel began taking on water and sank about 30 miles off Texas. After the boaters’ 21-foot vessel sank, a Houston-based Coast Guard MH-65C helicopter crew rescued the crew. “The Rescue 21 system aided in this rescue by providing searchers with a single line of bearing from where the mayday call originated, thereby greatly reducing the search area,” read a Coast Guard statement.
Seasoned mariners will also find comfort that Channel 16 will continue to serve as the primary method of distress notification and will be guarded continuously by Rescue 21 watchstanders. The system also allows for simultaneous communications and channel monitoring. General Dynamics C4 Systems has delivered other new capabilities to servicemembers who rely on Rescue 21. The company noted that “system enhancements can also improve coordination through interoperability with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and first responders.”
A ROBUST, NATIONAL SYSTEM
Prime contractor General Dynamics C4 Systems is leading the effort to deploy Rescue 21 throughout the service’s AORs. General Dynamics’ original industry team members included Motorola (communications equipment), BAE Systems (integration of the system onboard service ships) and CACI (network hardware, software and services). The General Dynamics C4 Systems-led team’s program of record provides new command, control and communications hardware and software, and services. The program replaces aging, obsolete VHF-FM radio communications equipment including workstations and consoles at about 270 service facilities. About 350 communications towers configured with transmit/receive antennas are overhauling the service’s legacy, short-range VHF-communication system as well as the network connecting them to facilities. About 3,000 portable radios are also being replaced.
The government/industry team has structured Rescue 21 to harness global positioning and cutting-edge communications technologies. The program’s technology enhancements close 88 known communications coverage gaps in coastal areas of the U.S., improve call clarity, enhance playback capability and improve direction finding capability to plus-or-minus 2 degrees.
And it is the system’s direction finding capability that has been credited with supporting recent rescues of mariners in distress.
One incident was the August 2009 rescue of two teenagers after their vessel began taking on water and sank about 30 miles off Texas. After the boaters’ 21-foot vessel sank, a Houston-based Coast Guard MH-65C helicopter crew rescued the crew. “The Rescue 21 system aided in this rescue by providing searchers with a single line of bearing from where the mayday call originated, thereby greatly reducing the search area,” read a Coast Guard statement.
Seasoned mariners will also find comfort that Channel 16 will continue to serve as the primary method of distress notification and will be guarded continuously by Rescue 21 watchstanders. The system also allows for simultaneous communications and channel monitoring. General Dynamics C4 Systems has delivered other new capabilities to servicemembers who rely on Rescue 21. The company noted that “system enhancements can also improve coordination through interoperability with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and first responders.”
A ROBUST, NATIONAL SYSTEM
Rescue 21 is being installed in stages. The service envisions an end-system that will assist mariners and protect lives and property on waters contiguous to the U.S. and on major bodies of water around the nation.
The system currently provides coverage for more than 29,000 miles of coastline. Through April 2010, additional system deployments are planned for San Francisco, San Diego and other cities. The Coast Guard’s fielding plan adds Rescue 21 installations through 2017—concluding at Juneau and Anchorage, Alaska. Rescue 21 is also integrating the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina and other recent disasters into its communications’ infrastructure and continuity of operations plans.
Rescue 21’s Disaster Recovery System (DRS) provides for the restoration of critical communications following natural or manmade disasters through the use of deployable, portable radio antenna towers. The Coast Guard has four DRSs that may be deployed throughout the continental U.S. within 24 hours. The service has also established a DRS capability at the Operations Support Center, Martinsburg, W.Va. DRS restoration capabilities include voice and data communications, caller position location (i.e., lines of bearing) and communications recording, archiving and retrieval. The DRS program was most recently put through its paces in 2008. DRS kept Rescue 21 communications operating in the New Orleans sector during Hurricane Gustav. The service relocated its New Orleans Rescue 21 watchstanders to OSC Martinsburg, where they were able to maintain watch over the Big Easy while staying out of harm’s way. ♦
The system currently provides coverage for more than 29,000 miles of coastline. Through April 2010, additional system deployments are planned for San Francisco, San Diego and other cities. The Coast Guard’s fielding plan adds Rescue 21 installations through 2017—concluding at Juneau and Anchorage, Alaska. Rescue 21 is also integrating the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina and other recent disasters into its communications’ infrastructure and continuity of operations plans.
Rescue 21’s Disaster Recovery System (DRS) provides for the restoration of critical communications following natural or manmade disasters through the use of deployable, portable radio antenna towers. The Coast Guard has four DRSs that may be deployed throughout the continental U.S. within 24 hours. The service has also established a DRS capability at the Operations Support Center, Martinsburg, W.Va. DRS restoration capabilities include voice and data communications, caller position location (i.e., lines of bearing) and communications recording, archiving and retrieval. The DRS program was most recently put through its paces in 2008. DRS kept Rescue 21 communications operating in the New Orleans sector during Hurricane Gustav. The service relocated its New Orleans Rescue 21 watchstanders to OSC Martinsburg, where they were able to maintain watch over the Big Easy while staying out of harm’s way. ♦