Location of China’s five Antarctic Research Stations and a proposed sixth station. The U.S. operates three Antarctic Research Stations. (Image: ABC News: Maggie Khameneh)

Sixty Degrees North has an interesting report on what is happening with regard to Chinese and Russian icebreakers.

China’s actions in the Arctic have been getting a lot of Press, but their actions in Antarctic deserve more attention.

The Russian section notes for the first time, Russia had eight nuclear powered icebreakers underway. Sanctions and the War in Ukraine have made exports from the Russian Arctic essential. The coverage reveals why Russia has so many icebreakers, that the Russian icebreaker fleet is getting old, and sanctions are making building replacements difficult.

Manufactured by AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China), the Wing Loong II is an advanced iteration of the earlier Wing Loong I. It features a wingspan of 20.5 meters, a length of 11 meters, a height of 4.1 meters, a maximum takeoff weight of 4.2 tons, and a payload capacity of up to 480 kilograms. It is powered by a rear-mounted turbocharged engine with a three-bladed propeller, allowing for a top speed of 370 km/h, a service ceiling of 9,900 meters, and a flight endurance exceeding 20 hours. Its satellite communications system enables long-range control over distances of more than 2,000 kilometers, covering the full expanse of the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

Army Recognition Group’s Navy News reports,

“Illustrative images released by the China Coast Guard on December 30, 2025, suggest the operational use of the Wing Loong II unmanned aerial vehicle during the Justice Mission-2025 exercise. If confirmed, this would mark the first publicly documented appearance of the MALE drone in a coast guard mission, highlighting a potential shift in China’s maritime law enforcement capabilities.”

This only illustrates that China is following a world wide trend of employing land based medium altitude long endurance (MALE) UAS for Maritime Domain Awareness. The US Coast Guard is planning on getting some MQ-9s, but if anything, we may be behind the curve. Current MQ-9 maritime users include Canada, India, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US Navy.

Wing Loong II appears to be similar to the MQ-9, perhaps a bit smaller. There is no indication if it has detect and avoid capability that would allow it to be certifiable in civil airspace like the MQ-9B. The Wing Loong II’s operational history is interesting and perhaps even a bit surprising. It has been used against Iran, Boko Haram, and the Houthi.

The exercise mentioned, Justice Mission 2025, simulated a blockade of Taiwan. Not surprisingly China Coast Guard seemed to have a significant role to play. This series of exercises might be used to normalize occasional movement of significant forces to surround Taiwan. Ultimately this apparent routine may be used to delay response prior to an attempt to forcibly unify Taiwan with the PRC.

Source: Seaspan. Canadian Coast Guard Multi-Purpose Icebreaker (MPI). Source: Seaspan. This is the ship to be built by the Bollinger/Seaspan/Rauma Marine Constructions (Rauma)/Aker Arctic Team. Two will be built in Finland while four are be built in the US.
Note: The MPI image does not show the right propulsors; it will use Steerprop’s contra-rotating propulsors (CRP). Additionally according to Seaspan, the design could easily be upgraded to PC3. Confirmation from Seaspan and Aker Arctic.

Below are two news releases, first from the Coast Guard and second from Bollinger. This is one of two programs that are ultimately expected to provide eleven Arctic Security Cutters.

The choice of the NSC as the basis for the FF(X) has prompted a lot of discussion about their survivability. Ten years ago, I did a post, “Small Warship Survivability,” I think it is still relevant. Basically I found that while it is certainly true that a major hit is more likely to sink a small ship than a large ship, the probability of actually being sunk is, based on US WWII experience, less likely for smaller ships. Looking at the video above, it seems that is the British experience as well.

In addition, it is far more likely that large ships will be taken out of service for a period due to damage that does not sink the ship. The current lack of tenders, repair ships, and floating dry docks makes these periods likely to be relatively long.

Considering the possibility of a war with China, it seems little thought has gone into how the effort will be supplied. In 2018 the Navy frankly told Military Sealift Command that they would probably not be able to escort the logistics ships that supply the US military. Additionally we have so few merchant mariners, we cannot afford to loose any of them.

The head of the Chinese Navy is a submariner. The Chinese have studied the naval war in the Pacific during WWII and they found the Japanese’s primary mistake was not attacking US logistics. We can be pretty sure, if we go to war, Chinese nuclear submarines, supported by their constellation of satellites, will be positioned to ambush our logistics when hostilities start. (I think there may be a possibility of armed merchant ships as well early in the conflict. MSC ships are essentially unarmed making them easy prey.)

Our situation is not unlike that of the Royal Navy in WWII. We do not have enough ships to escort the logistics ships. If we try to make each new ship capable of dealing with every threat, we will be unable to build enough. We need to build enough that are just good enough to handle escorting in areas where the threats are limited to submarines and their limited number of weapons. In areas where the threats more diverse, they will have to be teamed with more capable ships.

We will also need to be able to take out their satellites, but that is a job for Space Force.

It might be possible to escort some ships with Maritime Patrol Aircraft like the P-8. To make that possible we probably need to reopen NAS Adak, but if the vessels are sunk, the aircraft cannot rescue the crew.

An aspect of the Battle of the Atlantic that is frequently overlooked, is how many merchant mariners were rescued by escorts and specialist rescue vessels. If the crews know that there will be no rescue if their ships are sunk, they might not even choose to start.

Check out the video. The success of the corvettes was remarkable.

The War Zone reports what seemed obvious from the artists’ renderings, that the FF(x) derived from the National Security Cutter will not have any permanently installed vertical launch missile tubes,

“The initial flight of FF(X) will have a 57mm gun, 2 x 30mm guns, a Mk 49 Rolling Airframe Missile [launcher], various countermeasures, and a flight deck from which to launch helicopters and unmanned systems. Aft of the flight deck, there will be a flexible weapons system, which can accommodate containerized payloads (Counter-UAS, other missiles),” a Navy spokesperson told TWZ today. “Much like the successful DDG-51 [Arleigh Burke class destroyer] program, we are building this in flights. The frigate will be upgraded over successive flights to evolve and has the space reservations needed to improve capability over time.”

Members of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford’s crew remove a RIM-116 missile from a Mk 49 launcher during qualification trials.

I must admit, I missed the two 30mm guns, presumably Mk38 Mod4s.

A Revolution in Coast Guard Readiness:

There is reference to containerized, modular, or off-board unmanned systems operating from or in conjunction with the FF(X).

That sounds like the promises that accompanied the LCS, but if the Navy delivers on these systems, it could revolutionize the way the Coast Guard meets its military readiness mission. There are already mine counter measures and missile launching systems.

The Navy could maintain the mission modules and identify those who would operate and maintain them and simply assign them to Coast Guard units upon mobilization. The Coast Guard maintains and operates the platform while the Navy maintains and operates the payload.

Towed Arrays and helicopters is what I think about first, but it might include mine clearance if a US port may have been mined–don’t have to wait for a mine countermeasures ship to get there, just fly in the equipment and the crew, have them operate from a CG station or perhaps a buoy tender.

“USS Savannah (LCS 28) conducts a live-fire demonstration in the Eastern Pacific Ocean utilizing a containerized launching system that fired an SM-6 missile from the ship at a designated target. The exercise demonstrated the modularity and lethality of Littoral Combat Ships and the ability to successfully integrate a containerized weapons system to engage a surface target. The exercise will inform continued testing, evaluation and integration of containerized weapons systems on afloat platforms.”

Mk70 missile launchers could be flown to Alaska and mated to a cutter already in the area.

The USCGC Myrtle Hazard (WPC 1139) crew departs Guam for Honolulu on May 13, 2024, marking a significant milestone as the crew prepare for the first drydock maintenance period of approximately four and a half months. Commissioned in 2021, the Myrtle Hazard is the first of three Guam-based Fast Response Cutters to make the transit to Hawaii from Guam, traveling 3,743 miles to undergo this crucial maintenance phase. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Warrant Officer Sara Muir)

Below is a U.S. Coast Guard Forces Micronesia news release

The chart above is a bit disorienting because South is up. 

gCaptain reports,

Dec 20 (Reuters) – The United States is interdicting and seizing a vessel off the coast of Venezuela in international waters, three U.S. officials told Reuters on Saturday, a move that comes just days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a “blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.

It also provides an overview of what is happening in regard to the blockade announced by the President.

Apparently the Coast Guard, after seizing the first tanker, is still deeply involved.

“The officials, who were speaking on the condition of anonymity, did not say where the operation was taking place but added the Coast Guard was in the lead.”

The chart at the head of the post was found on Facebook. I can’t vouch for its accuracy, but the list of Navy assets seems to reflect what I have heard from reliable sources so I suspect the Coast Guard assets listed are at least representative, though I question 26135 and 55115 which in silhouette appear to be 87 foot WPBs.

I wish I could give you a more comprehensive overview of what the Coast Guard is doing but I have seen almost nothing official.

NORTHCOM’s on line magazine “The Watch” reports,

“TThe USS St. Louis returned to its home port of Mayport, Florida, on November 10 following a surge deployment in support of the United States Coast Guard’s maritime interdiction mission. The U.S. Navy Freedom-variant littoral combat ship, which carried a Navy helicopter and embedded U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement detachment (LEDET), patrolled U.S. waters near the southern border with Mexico, under the direction of the U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM).

This was an unusual deployment. Normally US Navy ships supporting Coast Guard interdiction efforts operate under SOUTHCOM, specifically under Joint Interagency Task Force South.

No interdictions were reported.