CGAS Kodiak

You may not learn anything from the article, but it is nice to see someone telling our story to a wider audience.

For a broader view of Coast Guard aviation facilities, this report is still substantially current.

Mk38 Mod4 Gun Weapon System. MSI-Defense Systems

TWZ (The War Zone) brings us a report on the Mk38 Mod4. 

Apparently the USN still has made only one installation. As to the future,

“The Navy’s 2027 fiscal year budget request, released earlier this year, makes clear the plan is still to integrate the Mk 38 Mod 4 at least on all Flight IIA and Flight III subvariants of the Arleigh Burke destroyer. The Mk 38 Mod 4 is also set to be a feature on future U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers, which will also have combat systems derived from Aegis.”

Unfortunately not much new here and perhaps the news is that there is no news about this  being used on future cutters. I checked the MSI–Defense Systems US LCC web site and there has not been a news release about the system since April 2024.

It may be that, with the Navy replacing close to one hundred Mk38 Mod 2/3 with Mod4s on Burke class destroyers, the Navy will pass these replaced units on to the Offshore Patrol Cutters, Arctic Security Cutters, and the remaining FRCs rather than buy new Mod4 mounts. Even if that is the case, there is still the option of upgrading the gun to 30mm.

I asked AI, if the Coast Guard was getting the Mod4 system, and this is what I got.

Yes, the U.S. Coast Guard intends to acquire and field the Mk 38 Mod 4 Gun Weapon System (GWS), but strictly for specific new ship classes like the upcoming Polar Security Cutter (PSC) heavy icebreakers.

Key Details on the Adoption

• Platform Application: The 30mm Mk 38 Mod 4—which upgrades the traditional 25mm chain gun to a 30mm Northrop Grumman MK44 Bushmaster II with a coaxial .50-caliber machine gun and independent electro-optical sight—is slated for the Coast Guard’s heavy polar icebreakers.

• Wider Fleet Rollout: Aside from the Polar Security Cutters, the Coast Guard has indicated the system will go on “some new cutters,” but hasn’t designated a broader fleet-wide replacement.

• Existing Cutters: The Coast Guard has stated it has no plans to retrofit or replace current 25mm systems (such as the Mk 38 Mod 2/3 variants found on Fast Response Cutters) with the new Mod 4.

The Coast Guard really needs to upgrade its existing 25mm mounts to 30mm. As noted in the text,

“The Mk 38 Mod 4 Machine Gun System (MGS) is an upgrade … to address deficiencies in meeting Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (C-UAS) requirements,” the Navy has said in the past. “In addition, the upgrade will also improve performance against surface targets and maintain Anti-Terrorist / Force Protection capabilities.”

Looking at replacing the Mk38 Mod3’s 25mm gun with the 30mm Mk44 Bushmaster II might give us most of the advantages of the Mk38 Mod4 without the need replace the mount.

Below is a news release. 

USCGC Vincent Danz (WPC-1162) and USCGC Jeffrey Palazzo (WPC-1163)

Below is a notification to media of the commissioning of USCGC Jeffery Palazzo (WPC-1163). The little ship will ultimately go to Guam, but for now it will mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11.

Still frames from footage of a November 2025 lethal strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean as part of Operation Southern Spear. U.S. Southern Command

The Navy League’s on line magazine, Seapower, reports,

“U.S. officials spoke to the media yesterday regarding the progress of Operation Southern Spear — the large-scale U.S. military and counter-narco-terrorism campaign in the Western Hemisphere — one year after the operation launched in September 2025, saying the mission has been largely successful thus far.

“Of note, one official said U.S. Southern Command’s counternarcotics operations over the past year have driven record reductions in illicit maritime activity, with a 65% reduction in the Western Caribbean, a 60% reduction in the Eastern Caribbean and a nearly 50% reduction in key areas of the Eastern Pacific.”

It does seem the conflict has changed. There was a two month period in which SOUTHCOM’s Southern Spear task force made no lethal kinetic strikes on purported drug smuggling boats, then on August 23 and August 25 lethal kinetic strikes were made. Since then there have been three reported interceptions of refueling vessels.

• https://www.southcom.mil/News/PressReleases/Article/4589814/interdiction-of-narco-terrorist-refueling-vessel-sept-2-2026/
• https://www.southcom.mil/News/PressReleases/Article/4591068/interdiction-of-narco-terrorist-refueling-vessel-sept-3-2026/
• https://www.southcom.mil/News/PressReleases/Article/4591750/interdiction-of-narco-terrorist-refueling-vessel-sept-5-2026/

In at least two cases the vessels were towing several small boats. The reports did not indicate if any drugs were found on the refueling vessel of the towed small boats.

It may be too early to declare victory. As we have seen the past, squeeze the ballon in one place, it bulges out somewhere else.

I have wanted to post about the two SINKEX that were included in RIMPAC 2026, but I was unable to find a comprehensive source identifying what was used and what effect the weapon, had. Rather there were numerous reports of individual weapons being used, but other than the fact that the Canadian submarine HMCS Corner Brook, using Mk48 torpedo, administered the coup de grâce to the former USS Mobile Bay (CG 53) it was had to link cause and effect with so many weapons being used particularly against the former USS Peleliu (LHA 5).

Weapons used:

• At least four US Army guided 227mm rockets (GMLRS) from M142 HIMARS
• Japanese Type 12 antiship missiles at the LHA
• LRASM from an FA-18
• At least four Harpoon missiles including two from USS Columbia (SSN-771) and two from Spanish and Japanese surface ships.
• Penguin missile from a New Zealand Navy helicopter
• Spike NLOS from a US Army helicopter
• Marte a smaller short range anti-ship missile
• Mk48 torpedo (apparently only one)
• Two unmanned kamikaze surface vessels.

I never saw a photo or video of the LHA sink. In fact I never saw a photo or video that seemed to show she had lost stability or that she had taken on a lot of water. Huge sections of the hull were ripped away but the ship never appeared to be sinking.

Below is a CENTCOM news release. 

The title of the release is not really accurate in that two of the tanker were immobilized while the third was destroyed.

It seems there is some messaging going on here. In the first two cases it appears the tankers were struck by Hellfire missiles targeting the stern so as to damage propulsion and/or steering while avoiding a massive release of oil. The third tanker was empty so destroying it did not result in a massive oil spill.

But the message was clear, we can destroy your tankers.

I would really like to know what weapons were used to destroy the third tanker. It may have been multiple Hellfires followed by secondary explosions.

I hope the Coast Guard is paying attention, because we need a ubiquitous weapon capable of forcefully stopping even large merchant ships that might be used a terrorist attack.

TAMPA, Fla. — U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces struck three Iranian crude oil carriers, Sept. 5, after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched ballistic missiles toward two U.S. Navy warships patrolling regional waters.

A U.S. aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyer successfully evaded multiple unprovoked Iranian attacks. No American personnel were harmed.

Following Iran’s failed attacks, CENTCOM permanently disabled the IRGC crude oil carriers M/T Downy off the coast of Kharg Island and M/T Stark 1 near Jask. American forces also completely destroyed the unladen crude oil carrier M/T Kylo (also known as the “Noxen”) in the Gulf of Oman, striking the vessel in multiple critical locations to render it inoperable after the crew was directed to abandon ship.

The three Iranian crude oil tankers are part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies. Iran has no means by which to defend them.

“Let the message to the IRGC be clear: If you shoot at two of our ships, we will impose an even higher economic cost —taking out three of yours,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander. “We will not hesitate to defend American forces, and if necessary, destroy Iran’s limited and exposed oil fleet.”

Smoke rises after Iran carried out a missile strike on the main headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet in Manama, Bahrain. (Anadolu via Getty Images)

Defense News reports,

“”The more we learn about the attacks on the U.S. Naval Support Activity (NSA) in Manama, Bahrain, during the opening days of Operation Epic Fury, the clearer it becomes why the news of its near destruction was not initially reported or acknowledged.

“Extensive damage to one of our most significant forward bases in the Middle East is likely to have profound tactical and strategic repercussions that are only now coming into focus.”

What did we loose when the six patrol boats left 5th Fleet and the squadron became “expeditionary?”

PATFORSWA was the largest Coast Guard unit outside the US. It included a training facility to train boarding parties and the patrol craft made a number of seizures including drugs (here and here) and arms being smuggling to Yemen (here and here). The cutters could be maintained in their homeport.

PATFORSWA had a long term continuing relationship with 5th fleet including Unmanned system experiments over many years.

Two MANTAS T-12 unmanned surface vessels operate alongside a U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat during exercise New Horizon in the Arabian Gulf. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Dawson Roth)

Below is an HQ news release. Apparently teaching has already begun and FORCECOM is moving there, meaning it is going to be more than a training center. More info here.

Aug. 31, 2026

Coast Guard Lt. Raymond J. Cerrato III and Lt. John “Jack” P. Stone pose for a photo after the change of command of the Fast Response Cutter Oliver Henry (WPC 1140), Apra Harbor, Guam, Aug. 21, 2026. Stone, a native of Atlanta, relieved Cerrato as commanding officer of the Sentinel-class fast response cutter. Cerrato, a native of Melbourne, Fla., led Oliver Henry through more than 75,000 nautical miles of operations across Oceania and the Micronesian subregion. During his three years in command, Oliver Henry and crew conducted search and rescue missions, law enforcement, disaster response, diplomatic engagements and partner-nation operations in support of U.S. Coast Guard missions throughout the region. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Chief Petty Officer Lisa Ferdinando)

Below is a news release from U.S. Coast Guard Forces Micronesia / Sector Guam.

I don’t normally pass along reports of Change of Command but I thought this one was remarkable in two ways, what this little ship has done in the last three years and the depth of experience the new commanding officer brings to the job. Lt Stone has been out of the Academy only a little more than four years but all that time was afloat.