A Cut Above
Written by Mark Fitzgerald
CGF 2010 Volume: 2 Issue: 2 (May)
On its first operational patrol last summer, the U.S. Coast Guard’s first national security cutter (NSC), Bertholf, seized two drug smuggling boats, detained four suspects and recovered a bale of cocaine after disrupting a major drug running operation 80 miles off the coast of Guatemala.
Two days after the drug bust, Coast Guard commandant Admiral Thad Allen congratulated Bertholf’s crew and called the arrest “a milestone achievement for the Coast Guard’s newest cutter.”
With a length of 418 feet, automated weapons systems, spacious flight decks and state-of-the-art C4ISR technology, the national security cutter gives the Coast Guard tremendous capacity and supports virtually every one of its missions. Designed by Northrop Grumman, it is the largest and most technically advanced class of the Coast Guard recapitalization program’s three major classes of cutters.
In addition to Bertholf, which was commissioned in August 2008 and fully accepted last May, the Coast Guard has a second NSC, Waesche, which completed acceptance trials in October 2009. The Coast Guard’s third NSC, Stratton, is currently under construction and is expected to be delivered next year. All told, the Coast Guard is planning to acquire eight NSCs through 2017.
“Waesche and her Legend class sister, Bertholf, are the largest and most technologically advanced cutters the Coast Guard has ever acquired, capable of meeting the most challenging 21st century missions,” observed Rear Admiral Ronald J. Rábago, the Coast Guard’s assistant commandant for acquisition and chief acquisition officer.
DESIGN AND PRODUCTION
Northrop Grumman has won multimillion dollar contracts to design and procure long-lead materials for the NSC. “The [NSC] will significantly enhance the maritime security capabilities and efforts of the U.S. Coast Guard,” remarked Philip A. Dur, president of Northrop Grumman Ship Systems. “Our shipbuilders are experienced in building complex and sophisticated surface combatants which this class of cutters exemplifies. We are ready to deliver these ships on an accelerated schedule if that becomes necessary and feasible.”
Northrop Grumman Ship Systems includes primary operations in Pascagoula and Gulfport, Miss., and in New Orleans and Tallulah, La. The company also has a network of fleet support offices in the U.S. and Japan. Ship Systems designs, engineers, constructs and offers life cycle support for major surface ships of the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy, as well as international entities and a variety of commercial vessels.
“Every one of our projects requires and relies on the success of an effective and productive partnership with our industry counterparts,” pointed out USCG Captain Peter Oittinen, the project manager of the NSC program. “Both parties have to work together to make a partnership succeed; either party can make it fail. That’s certainly true with the NSC program as well.”
Whether its migrant interdiction, counter-drug operations, military readiness, defense activities, maritime law enforcement or protecting marine resources, the NSC has the wherewithal to enable its crew to perform and execute with precision and a high level of intelligence.
“The NSC brings some capabilities that our high endurance cutters don’t have,” Oittinen added. “For example, our high endurance cutters do not have a stern ramp. The stern ramp and the recovery system were designed to be able to handle the current generation of small boats.”
QUALITY IMPROVEMENTS
Compared to legacy cutters, the NSC offers better sea keeping and higher sustained transit speeds, greater endurance and range, and an improved ability for the launch and recovery of small boats, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles. It has two rear-launching ramps that can launch and retrieve rigid- hulled inflatable boats (RIBs) without stopping. The RIBs can be used for intercepting suspect vessels, or for search and rescue operations.
“The more you build something, the more you find as you go along that there are things you can do to make it more efficient, both in the construction and in the quality of the project,” Oittinen recognized.
Although Bertholf’s stern gate was functional, the crew wasn’t happy with the way it performed. So the design of the gate was improved for Waesche, building in better reliability, speed of operation and simplicity. This summer, the modified gate will be installed on Bertholf.
“The changes that we’ve made over the progression of ships have principally been what you would expect from a start of production run, where we’ve discovered that there were some inefficiencies, or some minor capability differences, or some better technology out there,” said Oittinen.
One of the more noticeable features of Bertholf and Waesche is a spacious flight deck that can support Coast Guard helicopters as well as a variety of DoD and DHS assets. “We’ve designed it up front to be able to accommodate many of the helicopters from the other services and help increase our interoperability when we’re working with the DoD,” Oittinen said.
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES
Given the complexity of the command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment on the NSC, there is a rather steep operational learning curve. “These are the most capable ships we have built in terms of what they can do,” said Oittenen. “The good news is that our Guardians are up to the task. Obviously, as we gain more experience and time operating these ships, we’ll learn how to wring the highest capability of the potential of the systems.”
Designed and implemented by Lockheed Martin, the C4ISR technology is optimized to enhance interoperability and streamline secure communications in a variety of scenarios. Lockheed is also installing advanced sensors on the NSCs to bolster intelligence capacity and contribute to the common operational picture and maritime domain awareness.
“The NSCs have some unique C4ISR capabilities,” said Paul Klammer, Lockheed Martin’s Coast Guard program manager. “The sensors on the vessels allow crewmembers to create a common operating picture as well as tie into the Coast Guard’s level operating picture, so everybody is seeing the same thing. Whether they’re on an NSC, in an aircraft flying nearby, or on a different vessel, everybody is looking at the same picture and sees where the same tracks are located and has the same level of situational awareness.”
After Lockheed completes the bulk of the integration and a host of tests, Northrop Grumman conducts a builder’s trial from the shipyard. Then the Coast Guard embarks on an acceptance trial, which means taking the NSC out on the water and testing it. Based on the results of the trial, the Coast Guard then begins preparations for delivery.
“We’ve enjoyed a great relationship with Northrop Grumman,” added Klammer. “We got off to a great start with the first NSC and we’ve established a cohesive team environment that is very collaborative and adept at incorporating effective processes and lessons to make the ship deliveries go well. This teamwork really came into play nicely on the second NSC, especially in terms of the actual test program and making sure we sequenced the series of tests in the best way that we could, and got the right level of expertise and skill sets on both sides of the fence to work together to make the integration go smoothly.”
PASSING THE TEST
Before the Coast Guard accepts an NSC, it must pass over 400 tests, including over 60 conducted during sea trials. In Pascagoula, Miss. last year, Waesche completed four days of rigorous tests to ensure it met all of its contractual requirements before delivery. As the Coast Guard implemented important lessons from its experience in acquiring the Bertholf, it was able improve the schedule and efficiency of Waesche’s design, construction, fitting-out and testing processes.
NSCs can accommodate up to 125 crewmembers, although the average crew size is about 109. The estimated cost of an NSC is about $640 million, which includes both production and long lead time materials. The design life is about 30 years.
“The first two ships were designed with a hull structure that raised some concerns about whether it would achieve the 30 year design life in worst case conditions,” said Oittinen. “The third ship has structural modifications already incorporated into it to achieve that design life. So Bertholf and Waesche will be retrofitted at a future availability with the additional structural modification.”
Although last year the Government Accountability Office reported that NSC program delays could result in “the loss of thousands of cutter operational days for conducting missions through 2017,” Oittinen is confident that the people involved are doing their utmost to build and deliver these cutters.
“To be candid, we all would have liked to have these ships sooner,” he acknowledged. “But the reality is that these are terrifically complex projects, and, of course, they’re not exactly cheap either. I am satisfied that everybody is doing their very best to get these ships delivered as soon as possible. We’re building them as fast as we can, and I believe we’ll continue to do so as long as there is funding for the program—certainly the need is there.” ♦