According to Crigler, like the WMECs, the OPC will provide 75 percent of the Coast Guard’s overall offshore capability beyond 50 nautical miles, bridging the capabilities of the high endurance NSC and the 154-foot FRC. It must be able to operate in sea state 5 (8- to 13-foot waves), travel at speeds up to 25 knots, and have a range of 8,500-9,500 nautical miles. OPC operating areas will cover 95,000 miles of coastline and 3.4 million square miles of U.S. maritime territory.
Lt. Brian Field of the Office of Cutter Forces said the program of record is to procure 25 OPCs to replace the 29 WMECs serving today.
The weapons and their sensors will be provided as “government furnished equipment” by the Navy, which is responsible for the Coast Guard’s combat systems.
The combat system will be similar to the NSC, but slightly scaled down. Unlike the NSC, the OPC will not have the Close-in Weapon System (CIWS). The 57 mm gun will be the same as on the NSC and the Navy’s littoral combat ship, Field said.
An artist’s conception of the offshore patrol cutter (OPC). The OPC design is 360 feet long, with a beam of 54 feet and a draft of 17 feet. To complement the OPC’s design, Northrop Grumman was awarded a contract on Nov. 14, 2016, from
Eastern Shipbuilding Group for the design of C4ISR and machinery control systems for the U.S. Coast Guard OPCs. Northrop Grumman image
The program represents a significant cost for the Coast Guard. However, the majority of the cutter fleet is nearing obsolescence. The 210s were commissioned more than 50 years ago. The oldest of the 270s joined the fleet starting in 1983. So the cost of maintaining and sustaining these ships has become prohibitive.
“The average age of our major cutters is 41 years, though designed for only a 30-year service life,” said Field.
“The cutters that the OPC will replace are getting old,” said Frankford. “Replacing them is the smarter and most economical thing to do.”
An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew conducts vertical replenishment training aboard the 210-foot CGC Active, March 12, 2015. The Active was on a counter-narcotics deployment in the Pacific Ocean. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Ryan Tippets
“Our national security cutters are exceptionally capable ships,” said Brown, “that can do the business that the nation needs the Coast Guard to do, and do it as far away from our own shores as possible, and where we have great authority, and our capabilities exceed the capabilities of our adversaries. From a security standpoint, that’s a great place to be. That applies to the national security cutter acquisition, but also closer to shore, with the fast response cutter, which is the replacement for our patrol boats. Our next planned acquisition, the offshore patrol cutter, will end up being the numerical work horse of the fleet, with 25 of those planned. They’ll be able to reach down into that transit zone and conduct counter-drug operations. Ultimately, it will enable our national security cutters to work even farther from home. We have found that those ships have already lived up to their name – national security cutters – because they’ve contributed to national security both with the excellent counter-drug work they’ve been doing, but also in terms of their interoperability with the Navy.”
“We’re thinking for the future,” said Frankford. “These are modern problems, and we’re taking modern approaches. This is not the same old Coast Guard with a new coat of paint. We’re looking for new ways to accomplish the mission.”
This article first appeared in Coast Guard Outlook 2016-2017 Edition.