National Security Cutter - Program Issues

Program Issues

On 7 July 2009, the Government Accountability Office reported that delays in the NSC program are likely to result in "the loss of thousands of cutter operational days for conducting missions through 2017." The GAO also reported that month that problems in the NSC program have delayed the OPC program by five years. The program was also plagued by structural issues, the Coast Guard historically uses its cutters extensively, typically 180 days at sea a year, furthering the problem this will often be in North Pacific and North Atlantic waters that are some of the roughest seas in the Northern Hemisphere. As such, the stresses on the Cutters are expected to be very severe. Structural Analysis showed that some parts of the cutter could be expected to survive only 3 years. This has been addressed in cutter 752 on, with the first two cutters receiving reinforcements later. WMSL-752, the Stratton, suffered corrosion and leaks within weeks of commissioning in 2012. Earlier ships have not had the same problems so it may be the result of a faulty repair.

The delays and problems have led to cost increases. The latest USCG estimate for eight ships is $5,474 million for an average cost of $684m but hulls 7 & 8 are not currently funded; the first six hulls cost $3,902m for an average of $650m/ship. The sixth NSC cost $735m in FY2012/3.