Photo of a model of Halter Marine’s Polar Security Cutter seen at Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exhibition have surfaced. Photo credit Chris Cavas.
I just received my February/March issue of “The Bulletin,” the Coast Guard Academy Alumni Association magazine. It has a good article on the Polar Security Cutter, “The Future is Upon Us,” pages 48-54, by LCdr David Radin, class of 2009.
Unfortunately there are a lot of readers who might be interested in this that don’t have access to the magazine.
Most of it was information I had seen elsewhere, but there was a short paragraph headed “Modern C2” that had some information that was new to me, so I am reproducing it below.
“To meet the modern mission demands, PSC will be equipped with a highly capable Command and Control (C2) suite for full fleet integration. Additionally, PSC will feature the capability for oceanographic operations, a unique capability for the Coast Guard. This capability far exceeds POLAR STAR’s and comes in the form of a robust sonar suite, over 2000 square feet of reconfigurable science space and room for up to nine 20-foot portable scientific vans, an impressive load-out for science focused missions. This capability is critical for the United States to assert and enforce legal authority over the increasingly accessible northern edge of the exclusive economic zone.”
These are very large ships with relatively small crews (accommodations for 136 permanent crew and up to 50 additional persons). It looks like we are building in flexibility for the future. That should prove a wise decision.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 
I was told that science research was an afterthought on the Polar Star, But the Healy has a very robust setup for science with major space for scientists and researchers – the tour I received said that research on the Healy was nice – Glad to see the Coast Guard thinking ahead for research ability – with flexible space it can be updated as missions and research projects change
This is great, design for flexibility. But what is the command system they’re going to use? Same as NSC or OPC? Inquiring minds want to know.
Wondering about mounting the Adaptive Deck Launcher from BAE for some anti-ship capability? The Arctic Security Cutter is still a vaporware design and isn’t going to be much cheaper than the PSC. Might as well upgun some PSCs for the security mission and leave some for the science and McMurdo resupply.