Well, maybe not quite, but MyCG reports,
The customized translator is expected to be roughly the size of a standard phone and provide instant translations for 16 different languages. The initial prototypes – developed by myLanguage and Kynamics – are at different stages of completion. Coast Guard officials expect some devices could be available for testing on cutters as early as third quarter fiscal year 2023.
The Coast Guard Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation Program, in partnership with the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, launched two 6U CubeSats from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, as part of the Polar Scout project. Photo courtesy of SpaceX.
“A memorandum of understanding (MOU) inked by the U.S. Space Force Science, Technology, and Research Directorate and U.S. Coast Guard Research and Development Center on January 19 will expand Space Force access to USCG Research and Development Center facilities, infrastructure and personnel.”
Members of the Coast Guard Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Program (CG-926) and the Research and Development Center are in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to test usage of unmanned systems in the Arctic in Arctic Technology Evaluation 2018. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Alexandra Swan.
Just passing this along, because I think some of my readers may have some good idea, but might otherwise miss this announcement.
By Loretta Haring, Coast Guard Aquisitions
Do you have an idea you think might make Coast Guard operations easier? Or maybe there’s a new or ongoing challenge that makes completing your mission more difficult?
If so, the Coast Guard wants to hear from you.
That’s right. The service is currently soliciting ideas for research projects that could shape its future. The effort is in keeping with goals Adm. Linda Fagan laid out in her Commandant’s Intent: to sharpen our competitive edge and use new technologies to create a more agile workforce.
So, consider answering the admiral’s call to action by submitting your idea or challenge as a possible research and development project. The Office of Research, Development, Test & Evaluation and Innovation (RDT&E) is accepting ideas for its fiscal year 2024 research portfolio through Aug. 22.
How to participate
You can submit ideas/challenges/gaps/potential solutions to the “FY24 Research and Development Project Ideas” challenge via CG_Ideas@Work at this link. If this is your first time on the crowdsourcing site, you’ll need to follow the instructions to register. Deadline to submit ideas is Aug. 22.
Anyone within the Coast Guard – military, civilian, reserve, auxiliary, and contract personnel – can submit ideas.
What are they looking for?
Priority will be given to innovative ways to use Coast Guard assets and people for maximum effect, particularly during crisis response, as directed by the commandant.
To help guide idea submissions, the Deputy Commandant for Operations and Deputy Commandant for Mission Support have identified the following research priorities for fiscal years 2024-2025. All ideas, however, will be reviewed and considered on their merit.
The RDT&E program champions ideas that future-proof the workforce and optimize for today while continually innovating and adapting for tomorrow. Fagan has said, “Tomorrow looks different. So will we.” Your idea could be instrumental in making that a reality.
Questions? Contact research@uscg.mil. If you are unable to access the idea submission form, please submit your idea to research@uscg.mil and include the title, a short summary, and your contact information.
Related:
The NORTHCOM website, “The Watch” reports on USCGC Healy’s circumnavigation of North America.
There is a related story at MyCG about Polar Regions Technology Evaluation (PRTE), “Coast Guard research aimed at improving performance at high latitudes.” It includes some information about what Polar Star is doing.
“The welded-aluminum 29 Defiant craft is the latest product of Metal Shark’s “Sharktech Autonomous Vessels” division to be equipped with Sea Machines SM300 autonomous-command and remote-helm technology. The new vessel offers a full range of advanced capabilities including transit autonomy, collaborative autonomy, active ride control and collision avoidance, and remote control vessel monitoring.”
DefenseMediaNetwork posted a story about the acquisition of an optionally manned surface vessel for the Coast Guard’s Research and Development Center.
During exercises scheduled for October off the coast of Hawaii, the RDC team will test and evaluate the Sharktech vessel’s autonomous capabilities for their potential in supporting USCG surveillance, interdiction, patrol, and other missions.
US Capital West Side, by Martin Falbisoner
With a bit of help from a friend, the actual FY2019 budget documents were located: “The Joint Explanation” and “The Conference Report.”
I found the Joint Explanation easiest to wade through. The Budget breakdown is found on pages 65 to 69 of the 612 page pdf.
Note in some cases I have rounded to the nearest $0.1M
Our total Coast Guard FY2019 budget is $12,015,921,000. This is $91,803,000 less than last year, but $577,720,000 more than the budget request.
The Operations and Support allocation is $7,808.2M. That is $434.9M more than last year (a 5.6% increase), and $215.1M more than requested.
I have provided information on the PC&I budget below including a complete list of line items that I was unable to provide before.
PROCUREMENT, CONSTRUCTION, AND IMPROVEMENTS (PC&I) $2,248.26M
Vessels and Boats
—-Vessels Subtotal: $1,581.35M
Aircraft
—Aircraft Subtotal: $356M
Other Acquisition Programs:
—Other Acquisitions Programs Subtotal: $56M
Shore Facilities and Aids to Navigation:
—Shore Facilities and Aids to Navigation Subtotal: $254.91M
The PC&I total, $2,248.26M, was $446.48M less than FY2018, but it was $361.51M above the budget request.
—
R&D was cut by almost a third. This is probably a place to spend more not less.
Reserve Training disappeared as a separate line item, so I can’t tell what happened there.
Also included in the new budget is $5M for the National Coast Guard Museum
Incidentally, the total amount appropriated for the polar security program includes $359.6M (FY2018 and prior) + $675M (FY2019), or $1,034.6M, of which $20M is for Long Lead Time Material for the second ship, and the remainder is for the first ship and other program-related expenses.
With Operations and Support up more than 5% over 2018 and Procurement Construction &Improvement (PC&I) over $2B for the second year in a row, this is the kind of budget we can live with. It just needs to keep happening.
Above is the video of the Senate Subcommittee hearing for which I provided the Commandant’s prepared remarks earlier.
Participating Senators I noted were:
You can also check out the original post from the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (Same video is available there, but the meeting does not actually start on that version of the video until minute 36.) There you can also find the written statements of the other three witness who constituted the second panel. The Commandant was the sole witness on the first panel.
This was something of a love fest for the Coast Guard with repeated praise for the people and actions of the Coast Guard.
This hearing was reputedly about how the Coast Guard had been impacted by the unusually severe Hurricane season. There is not a lot new here but there were some interesting remarks.
Polar Icebreaker Contracts
The intention is to Contract for the first Icebreaker and then employ block buy for the next two (28m). To me this seems to negate most of the advantage of a block buy. I don’t believe we will or should buy one and then wait until we have tried it out before contracting for the next two. That would necessitate a delay of at least five years during which we would still have the nightmare scenario of our only heavy icebreaker having no rescue if it should break down in the ice–certainly not an impossibility even with a new ship. If we are going to contract for the remaining two before testing the first, we might as well block buy all three.
First of class is always the most expensive. If the shipyard gets a block buy they know that initial improvements in productivity can be amortized over the entire block buy quantity. In some cases, in order to win the whole project, the shipyard will cut the price of the first ship substantially knowing they will make a profit over the entire project.
If we buy one and then block buy the second and third, we have paid for improvements to the winning yard with the first contract and minimized the chances for a competitive bid for numbers two and three.
Legislation has capped DOD participation in icebreaker procurement, so the bulk of icebreaker procurement costs will come out of the Coast Guard budget.
Authorization
There was a lot of discussion about the need to have the Coast Guard Authorization Bill signed into law, still not approved. You can see it here.
Other topics
There was a discussion of the high cost of the Coast Guard response to the recent series of Hurricanes.
Representative Sullivan spent a lot of time, discussing and advocating for an eleven mile road from King Cove (population estimate–989) to Cold Bay, Alaska (population estimate–122) which has an all-weather airport with two runways, one 10,180 feet and one 6285 feet in length. The Coast Guard connection is that the road would minimize or eliminate the necessity for the Coast Guard to Medivac emergencies from King Cove by helicopter, which is frequently hazardous. It is a Federal issue, because the road would run through a Federal reserve. The Commandant fully supported the desirability of completing the proposed single lane gravel road as a means of minimizing the requirement for helicopter medivac.
Video Breakdown
28m Domestic icebreakers–Design work on new domestic icebreakers is expected to start in 2030. That sounds a bit late to me. Mackinaw was commissioned in 2006 so if that is what he is really talking about, that makes sense, but the 140 foot icebreaking tugs are a different story. The first for of these will be 51 years old in 2030. More than half of them have already completed in-service which was expected to add 15 years to their service life. Morro Bay, at least, is expected to reach the end of her service life in 2030, and considering how long it takes us to build a ship we really need to start the process not later than 2025.
45m Western Pacific Fisheries Protection–They have not seen much risk of Illegal, Unregulated, or Unreported fishing.
51m Inland River Tenders
56m We may need to replace the 52 ft MLBs with something larger than the 47 foot MLB sometime in the future, but their end of life is not yet apparent
58m Coast Guard Museum in New London
60m Sexual Assault in the CG
1h02m Puerto Rico/Virgin Islands continuing commitment and its effects on drug seizures and alien migrant interdiction.
1h05m Vessel homeporting
1h08 CG center of expertise, particularly in regard to clean up spills in ice and fresh water
1h16m Army Corp of Engineers dredging backlog.
1h17m Second Panel begins.
1h19m Medivac from King Cove
1h31m Mr Smithson regarding Deepwater Horizon experience, unified approach, investment in mitigation.
The Office of Naval Research’s online magazine, “Future Force,” has some insights into how they are approaching the task of helping to design the Coast Guard’s new heavy icebreakers.
It also seems to indicate the Navy is increasingly thinking about operating surface ships in the Polar regions and that they are realizing, its very hard.
They are looking at the capabilities of non-ice-strengthened ships in polar regions and at the effects of ice loading. Considering we have been sending National Security Cutters into the Arctic their findings should also be of some interest to us.
Chuck Hill's CG Blog 