Coastal Patrol Boats Boost Naval Presence–NDIA

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WPC Kathleen_Moore

National Defense Magazine has published an article about the Navy’s Coastal Patrol Craft, primarily focusing on those based in Bahrain, but also discussing how those in the US might be used. The Coast Guard’s Patrol Boats in the Gulf are also mentioned.

Perhaps the most interesting item in the article was that two of the PCs are now equipped with unmanned aerial systems (UAS). If it fits on the Cyclone class it will almost certainly fit on the Webber class WPCs.

Because the Navy no longer rotates crews between the US and the Persian Gulf the three Navy PCs still based in the US have been moved to Jacksonville and may be made available to support CG drug enforcement missions.

They talk about the addition of Griffin missile system to the Cyclone class which we have discussed previously.

For me the topic inevitably raises some questions. Both the Navy’s Cyclone class and the CG 110s at Bahrain will need to be replaced at some point.

The Navy has done extensive service life extensions on the Cyclone class in hopes of giving them a 30 year service life. All of these boats except one entered service between 1993 and January 1996. Meaning they have to start funding their replacements in approximately FY2019. The LCS were officially their replacements, but reading the article, it is apparent the LCS can’t do many of the things the Cyclone class are currently doing simply because they are too big. Might the Navy be interested in their own version of the Webber class?

All the 110s will be 30 years old by 2022. The earliest the 58 planned Webber class could be finished would be 2022 assuming building six per year, but it is much more likely to be 2026 or later.

It would probably be in the Coast Guard’s interest for the Navy to also build Webber class PBs. Probably the only way that could happen is if they saw it in operation in the Persian Gulf. Replacing the six WPBs in Bahrain with Webber class by the end 2017 would give the ships a chance to demonstrate their capabilities.

Webber class WPCs assigned to the 5th Fleet should be upgraded in ways similar to the changes made to the Cyclone class, including the addition of Griffin missiles. It would be an opportunity to see if the Webbers could fulfill the missions of the Cyclone class. It would also be an opportunity to see how the other Webbers might be upgraded.

“China’s Second Navy” (the China CG)–USNI

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The April, 2015 issue of US Naval Institute Proceedings has published an article which can be read on line, examining the Chinese Coast Guard and how it is using its blue water fleet, the largest fleet of cutters in the World (80 ships of over 1,000 tons and still growing).

It is worth a read. The author tracks the changing tactics employed by Chinese Law Enforcement vessels, and he sees a progression of increasingly aggressive actions.

Demonic Duck Runs Amok

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This morning, at the peak of the rush hour, San Francisco was attacked by a creature of monstrous size and appetite. Hundreds, perhaps thousands are dead or dying.DemonicDuck2

Children stare in horror as the Duck moves close to shore

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The scene just before the massacre

USCGC Waesche (WMSL 751) attempted to stop the behemoth, but its six pound 57mm projectiles, were according to her captain, “Like water off a duck’s back.”

No one is sure where the feathered horror came from. Scientists speculate that global warming may have released the monster from a glacier’s icy grip. Fox news contends that it is an Islamic Suicide Duck (ISD). MSN reports that it is a product of Disney Studios, an artificial intelligence enhanced animatronic attraction gone terribly wrong.

No one can say where the Demonic Duck will strike next. Meanwhile, Phil Robertson of A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” has been called in as a consultant, as the National Command Authority considers the nuclear option. The Department of Homeland Security has approved a $2M grant to rebuild the San Francisco Fire Department gym destroyed in the attack.

Coast Guard Cutter Procurement–Ronald O’Rourke

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Navy Air/Sea PEO Forum has published a report on Coast Guard cutter procurement written by Ronald O’Rourke of the Congressional Research Service. As far as I can tell this is the same information he has given to Congress. It is fairly long, but very complete, accurate, and balanced.

There are a number of troubling issues identified in the report, most of which boils down to the fact that while the fleet continues to age, funding for replacements continue to fall and most recently is less than half of the approximately $2.5B/year really needed to recapitalize the cutter fleet.

An immediate concern is that, the Offshore Patrol Cutter  (OPC) has again slipped to the right with the first ship now expected to be funded in FY2018 instead of 2017.

Another area of concern is how the leadership is portraying the Program of Record (POR).

The Coast Guard estimates that with the POR’s planned force of 91 NSCs, OPCs and FRCs, the service would have capability or capacity gaps in six of its 11 statutory missions—search and rescue (SAR); defense readiness; counter-drug operations; ports, waterways and coastal security; protection of living marine resources (LMR); and alien migrant interdiction operations (AMIO). The Coast Guard judges that some of these gaps would be “high risk” or “very high risk.”

Public discussions of the POR frequently mention the substantial improvement that the POR force would represent over the legacy force. Only rarely, however, have these discussions explicitly acknowledged the extent to which the POR force would nevertheless be smaller in number than the force that would be required, by Coast Guard estimate, to fully perform the Coast Guard’s statutory missions in coming years. Discussions that focus on the POR’s improvement over the legacy force while omitting mention of the considerably larger number of cutters that would be required, by Coast Guard estimate, to fully perform the Coast Guard’s statutory missions in coming years could encourage audiences to conclude, contrary to Coast Guard estimates, that the POR’s planned force of 91 cutters would be capable of fully performing the Coast Guard’s statutory missions in coming years.

We are not being competely honest in that we are painting to rosy a picture of the program of record.

International Efforts to Aid Vanuatu

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CIMSEC reports on the effects of tropical cyclone Pam on the archipelagic nation of Vanuatu in the South Pacific and the aid that is being given to the islands since the 165 mph storm hit the islands on 13/14 March.

Units from Australia, New Zealand, France, and the UK have been providing assistance. I was a little surprised there was no indication of help from the US military.

The 268,000 affected people are spread over 65 islands, with security experts likening it to dealing with 65 simultaneous emergencies. Furthermore, the difficulty of travel from one island to another makes it incredibly hard to compile an accurate picture of what the situation is.

There is also an update of the infographic depicting international assistance here.

OPC funding shorted–Commandant Testifies

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The USNI news service is reporting,

“The Coast Guard’s Fiscal Year 2016 budget request falls $69 million short of fully funding the Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) and instead relies on a funding transfer authority that would let Department of Homeland Security leadership provide the additional funding if the program is deemed affordable and on track, Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft told the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.”

There is supposed to be provision for transferring money into the account if the program is “affordable” and if the Department has not already spent the money on something else.

This is a new low for the Department in failure to act responsibly.