New Coast Guard ship expands homeland defense

The Coast Guard’s now-under-construction and rapidly emerging Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) ship will hit the ocean next year, bringing new strategic and tactical dimensions to homeland defense, multi-service data sharing and many pressing maritime security issues of relevance to the U.S. Navy and the Pentagon.

Working in close coordination with ESG to ensure that the ship’s technical infrastructure aligned with ESG’s structural vision for the ship, design specs and technical requirements, Northrop Grumman is building the Integrated Bridge System, an integrated set of technologies connecting the helm and control centers to the ship’s propulsion, steering and navigation. As part of its contribution, Northrop Grumman also provides the ship’s Computing Network System, Machinery Control System and Propulsion Control System along with the monitors and controls for the ship’s propulsion power plant. Interestingly, Northrop Grumman has leveraged some of the commonality with cutting edge technology it has built into other Navy and Coast Guard ships to optimize technical performance and ensure sustained upgradeability.  The advanced networking and C4ISR is of critical importance to the Coast Guard’s OPC vision, in part because the service is looking to acquire 25 new ships to replace an existing fleet of now less than 30 medium-endurance Hamilton cutters.