NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Coast Guard has faced a challenging year — and going forward the sea service will continue to emphasize the importance of increasing resources in the Arctic, said Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz said May 8 during Sea-Air-Space 2019 here.

The service released a new Arctic Strategic Outlook in
April, which updated the same report from six years ago that highlighted the
shortfalls the service faces in the ever-evolving region.

“We were trying to be honest with the report, … be bold
enough and frank and be candid enough with what the circumstances are,” Schultz
said.

The service has a full-time presence, District 17 in Juneau,
Alaska, but have never had a full-time base in the Arctic. Over the past decade-plus,
the Coast Guard has upped the rhetoric on the need to increase funding for
resources in the region. This is starting to come into fruition, as the Coast
Guard has begun to recapitalize its dated icebreaking fleet.

In April, the service awarded a $745 million design and
construction contract to Pascagoula, Mississippi-based VT Halter Marine Inc. to
begin building the next heavy icebreaker for the service. The Coast Guard now
only has one, Polar Star, that is more
than four decades old and suffering from increased mechanical issues and missed
time at sea due to it.

Schultz added that the new icebreakers will have unmanned
systems and a helicopter on them. The current fleet does not have either of
these capabilities.

The commandant said the lack of resources, such as
icebreakers able to operate in the Artic, keeps him up at night. But the new
heavy icebreaker is expected to be ready by fiscal 2024, at the latest, though Schultz
acknowledged there will be challenges in filling in the gap between that cutter
coming online and keeping Polar Star operating.

“We are working on how we bridge this gap,” he said.

The service also has plans to build six new icebreakers — three
heavy ones and three medium capability — over the next two decades.

Schultz said the Arctic is competitive economically as well
as for national security. As sea lanes there open for longer periods due to melting
sea ice from climate change, cruise ship activity has increased, and commercial
ships are able to traverse through the former icy waters more frequently.

“It’s an increasingly dynamic portion of the world. How do
we innovate and adapt to the region?” the commandant said.

Schultz noted that the conversation is expanding regarding
the Arctic. Congress is paying more attention, and the Defense Department conducted
extensive exercises there earlier this year.

“How do we speak with a unified voice up there?” he said.

Part of the new Arctic Strategic Outlook states the Coast
Guard will look to strengthen partnerships, address emerging demands in maritime
law enforcement there and advance and modernize the Arctic’s marine
transportation system.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The U.S. Coast Guard’s maritime security response teams (MSRT) continue to evolve, as the service looks to make them more effective and expand their capabilities.

The mission of the teams — one is based in San Diego, California,
and another is in Chesapeake, Virginia — is tactical, as MSRT is a ready
assault force, whose members are trained in maritime security, law enforcement
boarding procedures, force protection and environmental hazards response within
a tactical law enforcement operation. The teams also combat chemical,
biological, radiological and nuclear threats posed to the United States.

Lt. Jake Tronaas, Direct Action 6 team leader, Maritime Security
Response Team West, said his team is working on a more robust working
relationship with U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and other Department of Defense
agencies.

“In the last few years, our mission set has changed,” Tronaas
said.

Once focused primarily on issues related to San Diego, his team
now focuses on vast counter-terrorism responses and is responsible for an area
from Alaska to Australia.

Tronaas said his unit recently completed three weeks of training
in Alaska, in preparation for response potential incidents in the Arctic.

“We definitely need to work on being prepared to cover our
operational area,” he said during the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space exposition.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security agency team stays consistent
in terms of operations throughout the year, but sees a slight uptick in the
summer months, as more events, such as United Nations meetings along with presidential
and Coast Guard commandant missions, occur.

The team also recently transitioned to a maritime security
response team from the maritime safety and security team, allowing them to
focus on additional legacy anti-terrorism missions that predate the Sept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks. 

“This
is a consolidation and will make us and the Coast Guard more efficient,”
Tronaas said.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – The Coast Guard plans to release its
fifth request for information (RFI) to industry in the coming months, as they
continue to gather information on how best to recapitalize their dated
waterways commerce cutter (WCC) fleet.

“This aging fleet, it is extremely important to our nation’s
economy,” Aileen Sedmak, manager of the WCC program, said during a floor
presentation at the Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space exposition May 7.

The 35-ship fleet consists of three cutter types, an inland
construction tender, a river buoy tender and an inland buoy tender. They
primarily operate along the Mississippi River and Great Lakes region. The ships
average 50 years of age and are responsible to making sure $4.6 trillion for
the nation’s economy per year is able to move freely in the inland waters.

In February, the service released an RFI asking for industry
to gather information about the state of the market and current industrial
capabilities to support pile-driving systems for the WCC program.

Sedmark said the recapitalization program is currently in
the analyze-select phase, which includes collaborating with the Navy’s Naval
Sea Systems Command to analyze needs and requirements.

“We are doing our due diligence,” she said.

The acquisition program will cost over $1 billion, and the
exact number of cutters needed remains uncertain. Sedmark said they would like
to have initial operational capability in fiscal 2024 and full operational
capability by fiscal 2030.

“This is a very critical mission right now,” she said.

Issues with the cutters currently include additional
maintenance requirements and lost operational time because of it.

Industry representatives at the presentation asked a series
of questions on production timelines, how many cutters may be in the fleet and
additional requirements that may needed on the cutters. 

Sedmark said she was uncertain when a request for proposal
would be issued or how many exact ships would be requested.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – As international incidents increase,
and the U.S. military begins an uptick in training exercises on global
positioning service (GPS) jamming, military leaders are looking more toward
industry for answers on how to combat the growing issue.

Paul Zweers, vice president of the global Aerospace, Defense
and Government business units for Orolia, said a few recent occurances are
putting a spotlight on the issue — including an incident last February, where
Finland and Norway suspected and accused Russia of GPS signal jamming during a
NATO-led drill.

“Operating in [a] Global Navigation Satellite System-denied
environment and GPS jamming and spoofing are the buzzwords everybody is talking
about,” he said.

GPS jamming occurs when radio frequency transmitters are
used to intentionally block or interfere with communication devices, such as a
GPS, cell phones and Wi-Fi networks. GPS spoofing involves the practice of
using fake GPS signals to trick equipment and send false location signals. 

“We have more proof, beside incidental jamming, that there’s
active spoofing and jamming going on in certain parts of the world. Everybody
is painfully aware this exists, and they are asking how we can we overcome this
and what are the solutions,” Zweers said during an interview on the show floor of
the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space exposition.

Orolia currently provides support for cybersecurity and
interoperability for the Department of Defense, and it is working on expanding its
SecureSync platform, which combines multi-GNSS signal synchronization options
BroadShield GPS anti-jamming/spoofing protection and superior low phase noise
capability for military systems.

“We have quite a broad portfolio, and in the coming years we
will be looking to expand our PNT [position navigation time] mission set,” he
said.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Coast Guard has a four-step process for setting and making requirements on missions to prevent and mitigate mission gaps.

“We look at a problem and find the best way to solve it,” Capt. Michael MacMillan, chief of the office of requirements and analysis, said during a floor presentation here at Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space 2019.

The service accomplishes this by publishing four different
types of documents. The first is a capability and analysis report. The second,
which marks the beginning stages of the acquisition process, is drawing up a
mission needs statement. From there the service will put together a concept of
operations document, the primary purpose of which is coming up with ideas for
filling in capability. The final document produced is the operational
requirements document, which outlines specific requirements, such as how fast a
ship needs to go or how long an aircraft needs to stay airborne.

“We don’t get to make our own missions, but we make
requirements on the ones we have,” MacMillan said.

The Department of Homeland Security agency has 13 core
missions, with a bulk of those coming from search-and-rescue missions and drug
interdiction.

The
captain said that its important industry representatives understand the process
to help themselves and the Coast Guard.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Coast Guard rescue swimmer
program was born after a deadly ship sinking in 1983 off the coast of Virginia
that claimed the lives of 31 people.

During a stormy February night, the 605-foot SS Marine
Electric, a bulk carrying ship, capsized about 30 miles off the coast of
Chincoteague, Virginia.

The service sent a helicopter to assist in the rescue
mission. At that time the Coast Guard did not have any rescue swimmers, and
when they would respond to a distress call, they’d lower the basket and the
person in the water would have to swim toward it to then be raised up inside
the helicopter.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t always work the best,” Aviation
Survival Technician Chief Petty Officer Eric Biehn said during a floor
presentation.

The service spent two hours trying to recuse the 34 people
in the water after the ship capsized, but with the weather conditions, and
freezing water, was unable to lift anyone up. The Navy came, as they had
rescues swimmers at the time, and was able to save three lives with their
rescue swimmer.

The following year, the Coast Guard put funding in start a
rescue swimmer program in the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 1984.

“That maritime disaster was enough to wake up Congress and
the United States,” Biehn said.

By 1985, the first team of rescue swimmers was deployed to a
base in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and by 1991 the program was fully
deployed in 23 bases.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The Arctic continues to present operational and logistical challenges for the agencies that operate there, but studies are providing a clearer picture of how they should be adjusting to climate change, service leaders said during a panel presentation at the Navy League’s annual Sea-Air-Space exposition here.

“We are working on how to better understand the Arctic,” said
Rear Adm. John Okon, commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, and
oceanographer and navigator of the Navy.

Noting that climate change is happening — and there are
undeniable changes in sea ice over the last decade— Okon said the use of
unmanned systems could be a force multiplier for missions in the Arctic.

“We know we are going to have to operate [in the Arctic] and
protect the homeland,” he said.

Vice Adm. Daniel Abel, the U.S. Coast Guard’s deputy
commandant for operations, said the risks presented in the polar region are
growing each year. 

“It is undeniable conditions are changing up there … the
change has happened, and the change is happening,” Abel said.

[climate

The Coast Guard’s annual Operation Artic Shield will once
again take place this summer. Arctic Shield’s goal is to increase knowledge of
operating in the region, as the service sends additional personnel and
resources to the area to see how they react.

The Coast Guard has no full-time base in the Arctic, as the
service operates there seasonally. Over the last several years, as sea ice has
melted sooner and shipping lanes have been opened for longer periods of time as
a result, the requirements for the Department of Homeland Security agency have
been more plentiful in the polar region.

Communicating with the Defense Department and allied nations
through automatic identification systems and other means has presented unique
challenges for the Coast Guard, given the harsh climate conditions.

“We are making sure that our requirements work with U.S.
Northern Command, and we have the abilities to communicate at the highest
latitudes,” Abel said.

Jeffrey Hutchinson, commissioner of the Canadian coast
guard, said he hopes the service continues to work closely with its counterpart
agency in the United States.

“We want to strengthen our partnership role,” he said.

Echoing comments from fellow panelist, Hutchinson said
climate change is an issue for the Arctic, and Canada needs to communicate to
get support from allies along with improving its relationship with other
nations that have a stake in the region.

U.S. Air Force Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy, commander, U.S.
Northern Command, said the department is working on a unified approach among
all agencies that operate in the polar region.

Noting that they all face common challenges, he said new
technology is important in the Arctic and that continuing to better study the
region will be a focal point going forward.

“The
[Arctic] is a critically important topic,” he said.