Coast Guard trying to stay the course on its shipbuilding plans during tough fiscal times.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: Homeland Security News

The Coast Guard is in the middle of a 25-year effort to replace its fleets of aging ships, and has so far managed to obtain most of the funding it needs, said Mm. Robert J. Papp, commandant of the Coast Guard.

"Those years at sea taught me a lot of lessons. I don't control the weather, you adapt to the weather ... I don't make the rules in terms of budgetary process. I take the money that is eventually appropriated to me that comes from the scarce resources of the people of the United States, and we use it to best effect," Papp said in a speech at a Naval Surface Association conference.

One potential hiccup is funding for its final two National Security Cutters. The largest of the deep ocean-going vessels has funding and contracts are in place to build the fourth, fifth and sixth ships. The Hamilton, the fourth in the series, is expected to be christened this fall. Papp anticipated that a contract will be awarded for the sixth National Security Cutter about the same time.

There is no funding appropriated so far for the seventh and eighth ships.

Congress approved bills for fiscal year 2013 for long lead money for the final two ships, "so we're pretty pleased about that, and we'll just have to continue our negotiations on the '14 budget and the '15 budget. I hope we get construction for number seven and number eight in those two budgets and then keep moving forward," Papp said.

The second most vulnerable program is the Offshore Patrol Cutter, which is still in the early stages of development.

The Coast Guard is currently going through the numerous proposals it received.

The Offshore Patrol Cutter is currently the Coast Guard's highest priority program, Papp said. They will replace the service's already antiquated 210- and 270-foot medium endurance cutters. They are intended to fill the gap between the deepwater National Security Cutters and the smaller boats that patrol near shore.

"There seems to be significant interest out there to build 25 ships, and we're very pleased about that. I think people are thinking out of the box. They're looking at new designs. We need to think out of the box as well as we go forward, because ... this ship is going to be very, very important to us."

If the ship's development is slowed down because of budget cuts, it could create serious capability gaps, Papp has said. The two ships it is designed to replace frequently break down because of their age.

The Fast Response Cutter program, meanwhile, is more stable...