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NAVY PROGRAMMES
On June 25, 2002, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) awarded the Integrated DEEPWATER System (IDS) contract to Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS), a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. This 20 year, $17 billion project is the largest acquisition ever undertaken by the Service, and marks a major milestone in the Coast Guard's history. This unique, performance-based acquisition focuses on system-level capabilities rather than assets. DEEPWATER is not just new ships and aircraft, but an integrated "system of systems" approach to upgrading existing assets while transitioning to newer, more capable platforms, with improved command, control, communications and computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) and integrated logistics support systems. This optimal mix of assets will provide the men and women of the Coast Guard the right system to perform all of its missions.
BACKGROUND
The Coast Guard is a military, maritime, multi-mission service, with a proud history as America's Maritime Guardians. The security of America's maritime domain- including 95,000 miles of coastline and nearly 3.4 million square miles of ocean - is a vital element of America's economic prosperity and homeland security. Even before the September 11 th terrorist attacks, the Coast Guard faced an array of maritime security challenges- countering terrorist threats, rescuing mariners in distress, interdicting drug smugglers and illegal migrants, fisheries enforcement and protecting the marine environment - that posed direct threats to American safety and security.
These critical missions demand forces with the capability to detect and intercept potential threats on America's maritime front lines before they reach our shores. DEEPWATER operations include both the coastal and off-shore operating environment, requiring an extended on-scene presence or long transit distances. Coast Guard assets that perform DEEPWATER missions currently include five classes of cutters and four classes of air assets. The Coast Guard's DEEPWATER ships and aircraft comprise the first line of the Service's layered defence against threats to America's maritime homeland security.
However, the Coast Guard's ageing fleet of DEEPWATER assets is technologically obsolete and requires excessive maintenance to keep them in operation. To address these capability and availability challenges, the Coast Guard established the IDS Programme - often referred to as DEEPWATER - to modernise and replace its ageing fleet of cutters and aircraft, and their...