Author Archives: Chuck Hill

FY 2014 Budget

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FierceHomlandSecurity.com reports the Department of Homeland Security has issued their budget proposal for FY2014. Overall the Department has been cut by 3.48%, while the Coast Guard has been cut by 8.66% compared to FY2013.

Compared to the FY2012 budget, personnel are being cut by 516 full time equivalents (FTE) or a little over one percent. The total budget is down $888.362M from $10.681B or about 8.32%. Looking specifically at the AC&I  budget, it took a big hit, from more than $1.46B, it was cut to a bit over $951M for a loss of 34.9%.

You can find budget documents here.

Vessels ($743M):

The AC&I budget for vessels has actually increased. The lion’s share will go to fund the 7th NSC. The budget includes only two Webber Class Fast Response Cutters (FRC), instead of the full rate production of 6 that had been optioned for. There are also small amounts for continued planning for the Offshore Patrol Cutter and the new Polar Icebreaker, and to begin refurbishment of the 140 foot icebreaking tugs and 225 foot buoy tenders.

The budget also includes the decommissioning of two more 378 foot WHECs. (I am beginning to wonder when we will start to see the 110s being decommissioned.)

Last year the proposed budget also included funds for only two FRC, but six were ultimately authorized, so perhaps there is still hope for more.

Aircraft ($28M):

The budget for aircraft is way down and includes no new aircraft, but it does continue updates for the MH-65s and HC-130Hs.

The budget includes disestablishment of airstations at Newport OR and Charleston, SC, and the retirement of eight HU-25s and two HC-130Hs.

It appears the Coast Guard believes they will get 21 excess C-27Js from the Air Force.

File:C27 SPartan making condensation spirals.jpg

Photo: C-27 J courtesy of TreyFitz at English Wikipedia

Where we are going:

The budget also gives us an indication of how many of the new vessels and aircraft are expected to be operational. The budget indicates there will be twelve FRCs, four NSCs with the fifth nearing commissioning at the end of FY2014, 17 HC-144As and 17 mission System Pallets for the HC-144s.

One line item I found interesting was for 1000 hours of “Manned Covert Surveillance Aircraft” time. This may be a resurrection of an earlier program when the Coast Guard used the Schweizer RG-8A twin-engine motor-glider ISR aircraft that has now evolved into the RU-38 Twin Condor. That program was reportedly discontinued in 2000, but an updated version could be seen as a replacement for the long deferred and problematic UAV program.

Schweizer RG-8A in 1990

Schweizer RG-8A twin-engine glider in flight, circa 1990

FY2015 will be a crunch, in that two years ago a sizable jump in AC&I funding was projected to provide for both NSC #8 and the first Offshore Patrol Cutter. Last year it appeared that NSC #7 and #8 had been indefinitely deferred, but now they are back in. On the other hand it appears the start of the OPC may be delayed. We will talk more about this later.

Damen Proposal for the Offshore Patrol Cutter?

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H_K provided this Link (http://www.offshore-patrol-security.com/cms-assets/documents/59716-108335.damen-opv-presentation-portsmouth-2012.pdf) in a comment on an earlier post, “Damen to  Build New Patrol Boats for Bahamas”. It is a 47 page pdf of a “Power Point” presentation on “Building the Ultimate OPV.”

I thought perhaps it deserved a more prominent place in the Blog, so I will repeat my comments here:

Things I noted:
—8000kW propulsion system suggests 22 knots max speed, the minimum rather than the “objective” 25 knots which would have required closer to 15,000 kW.
—Nice to see several alternatives for how to make the required horsepower.
—Looked like there was provision for accessing the open area under the flight deck by lifting soft patches in the flight deck. This may mean that the ship could use mission modules in the form of containerized loads like those being developed for the Littoral Combat Ships.
—The only clues that this may not actually be a design proposed for the OPC contract are (1) the fact that the artist’s concepts don’t include the 25mm Mk 38 mod2 mount specified, and (2) the accommodations section does not include accommodations for the numbers specified in the RFP.

 

A Damage Control Patch

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MarineLog is reporting on the use of a type of patch used by the Norwegian Coastal Administration (NCA) and carried aboard five Emergency Towing Vessels (ETVs) that can be applied to the exterior of a hull to stop flooding. This sounds like an improvement on the old idea of using a canvas patch to limit flooding but using new materials and techniques.

Damen to Build New Patrol Boats for Bahamas

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MarineLog reports that Damen has secured a contract with the government of the Bahamas.

“It covers the acquisition of nine vessels for the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and construction work for their naval bases plus additional dredging works to accomodate new long range patrol craft.”

The nine vessels are in three class. One, a “San Lander 5612,” is a small ro/ro much like the old LCUs, intended for disaster response. Four will be a version of Damen’s, Stan Patrol 4207, 42 meter patrol boats, which includes the Canadian patrol boats we discussed earlier, that are closely related to the Coast Guard’s own Fast Response Cutter.

What I found particularly interesting were the four smaller patrol boats with a Damen developed “axe bow” because they may give us a glimpse at the future replacement for the 87 foot “Marine Protecctor” class WPBs (27 meters long, 6 meter beam), which was also a Damen design. Its designation, SPa 3007, indicates it is 30 meters long and a 7 meter beam (98.4 ft long, 23 ft beam).

Fixed Wing, Rotary Wing, Tilt Rotor? Son of V-22

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April 10, 2013 Bell Helicopter introduced the V-280 “Valor” tilt-rotor at the 2013 Army Aviation Association of America’s (AAAA) Annual Professional Forum and Exposition.

This is only the latest entry in the Future Vertical Lift (FVL) Program, “A collaborative effort involving a number of parties, including Special Operations Command (SOCOM), the U.S. Coast Guard, NASA, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) and the Vertical Lift Consortium (VLC), FVL will design, develop and deliver the next generation of DoD vertical lift aircraft, according to Lt. Col. David Bristol, U.S. Army Aviation PEO for Future Vertical Lift activities.”

The program is meant to develop a replacement for the UH-60 Black Hawk, AH-64 Apache, and CH-47 Chinook.

“The Bell V-280 Valor’s Army-centric design boasts a number of unmatched capabilities and transformational features including:

  • Speed: 280 KTAS cruise speed
  • Combat range: 500-800nm
  • Strategically Self-Deployable – 2100nm Range
  • Achieves 6k/95
  • Non-rotating, fixed engines
  • Triple redundant fly-by-wire flight control system
  • Conventional, retractable landing gear
  • Two 6′ wide large side doors for ease of ingress/egress
  • Suitable down wash
  • Significantly smaller logistical footprint compared to other aircraft”

“The Bell V-280’s clean sheet design reduces complexity compared to previous generation tiltrotors, with fewer parts, as well as non-rotating, fixed engines.”

Hopefully some day we may be able to fulfill the medium range search requirement with the same aircraft that provides the long range rescue capability, and this replacement for the H-60 will have twice the range and almost twice the speed of its predecessor.

India Builds an OPV (OPC)

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India recently commissioned INS Saryu, the first of a new class of Offshore Patrol Vessels (five photos), that are in many respects similar to the planned Offshore Patrol Cutters. I don’t think anyone is considering these as contenders for the OPC contract, but with similar mission profiles, they do show what the OPC might look like. From the Wikipedia Description:

Displacement: 2300tons
Length: 105 metres (344 ft)
Beam: 12.9 metres (42 ft)
Draught: 3.6 metres (12 ft)
Propulsion: 2 x 7790 kW engines
Speed: 25 knots (46 km/h)
Range: 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h)
Complement: 8 Officers and 102 Sailors
Armament: 1 x 76 mm Oto melara gun with FCS
2 x 30 mm CIWS
Aircraft carried: 1x medium helicopter

The 2,300 ton displacement is probably the light displacement. Full load is probably more. The beam is essentially the same as the 378s, so the helicopter facilities look reasonable, although I hate to see them all the way aft, where they are most effected my pitching.

I’m hoping for a more sophisticated hybrid or integrated diesel electric powerplant on the OPC, but the two diesels on Saryu providing almost 21,000 SHP are certainly adequate, meeting the OPC’s objective speed of 25 knots.

Crew size is very similar, with a total of 110 compared with the OPCs’ projected Manpower Estimate of 104 total (15 officers, 9 E-7 and above, and 80 E-6 and below) plus up to 12 attached personnel. (Another source indicates Saryu will have a crew of 16 officers and 102 enlisted.)

Range is a little less at 6,000 nmi compared with 7,500 minimum for the OPC, but it is measured at a higher speed–16 vice 14 for the OPC. It is likely the Saryu would also have a longer range at lower speeds.

The armament is also similar, only a bit heavy on the Indian vessel compared to the 57mm Mk 110, single 25mm Mk38mod2 and two remotely controlled .50 cal projected for the OPC.

A little surprising, that these ships are being built for the Indian Navy, instead of the Coast Guard, which in India is part of the Navy, but there is also, reportedly, an outstanding contract for six similar ships for the Indian Coast Guard.

Charging Carnival for Services

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Frequent contributor Bill Wells has some thoughts on the recent exchange between U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller and Carnival Cruise Lines, in which the senator suggested that Carnival should pay the cost of assistance provided by the Navy and Coast Guard to Carnival’s “Triumph” and “Splendor” cruise ships. Bill looks back on the history of asking for renumeration, and suggest there is precedence for this. “Adapted to Their Condition and Necessities,” Paying for Rescues

There is also another post, representing alternate view, by a former Coastie, Mario Vittone,  “The Cost of Rescue: Why Carnival Shouldn’t Pay and the U.S. Shouldn’t Accept”

gCaptain is reporting that Carnival Corp. is bowing to pressure from U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller, said it will reimburse the U.S. for costs related to the breakdowns at sea of its Triumph and Splendor cruise ships. There is some additional background here.

Thoughts?

Thoughts of my own:

  • Somewhere in between charging nothing and charging the fully prorated lifecycle cost of the asset there is also the possibility of asking for reimbursement of the marginal cost attributed solely to the rescue.
  • Did Carnival ask for our help or did we volunteer it?
  • Obviously the Navy did not figure costs the same way the CG did, otherwise the hourly cost of an aircraft carrier would have dwarfed the hourly cost of a 378.
  • Some of us remember when the Coast Guard was your friendly free towing service for boats that frequently ran out of gas. That doesn’t happen as much anymore.
  • Maybe we just need to collect more in the way of fees from the foreign flag ships that make up the cruise industry.

Japan’s Coast Guard may be Picking Up Retiring Destroyers

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File:JMSDF DD-127 Isoyuki.jpg

MSDF DD “HATSUYUKI”Class 127 ‘Isoyuki’. |Source=By JMSDF[http://www.mod.go.jp/msdf/formal/gallery/ships/dd/hatsuyuki/127.html] |Date=2008_07_06 |Author=User: A&W |Permission=GFDL ([http://www.mod.go.jp/msdf/formal/notice/index

Japan’s coast guard may be picking up additional ships in the form of Retiring Destroyers. Since their Coast Guard does not seem to have a defense role, there are some challenging issues to worked out in terms of weapons and manning.

Huntington Ingalls OPC Concept Model

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Defensenews has a story about a proposal from Huntington Ingalls (HII) to use their LPD hull for a dedicated Ballistic Missile Defense Ship, but it also has a photo of a model purported to be HII’s concept for the Offshore Patrol Cutter.

The ship looks conventional. It makes no apparent attempt at “stealth.” It appears to be essentially a flush-deck design with a small step down aft of the flight deck. It has  single conventional tripod mast, mounted immediately behind the bridge. It appears to have twin shafts and rudders of the conventional type. The 57mm is mounted a deck above the foc’sle, presumably to keep it dry and give it a better minimum range over the bow.