The program was triggered in part by post-Sept. 11 security needs, said Coast Guard spokeswoman Lt. DesaRae Atnip. The joint contract, awarded today to Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Ship System Corp., is the biggest in the Coast Guard's 212-year history.

"There has been a clear and definite shift in our mission priorities after Sept. 11," Atnip said.

The first new ships should be delivered to Hawai'i in the first five years of the program. Atnip did not know how many ships and planes would be sent to Hawai'i.

The Integrated Deepwater System Program will add deepwater ships and air fleet to the Coast Guard, and update an old communication system. The communication equipment will enable existing ships and planes to share more information.

The terrorist attacks have dramatically shifted the Coast Guard's traditional missions of search and rescue to harbor and port security, making modern equipment more essential than ever, Atnip said.

"All of our assets are old," she said. "We are using old cutters, old aircraft and computer systems to do heightened homeland security, so this new contract is like a shot in the arm that the Coast Guard very much needed."

Atnip said that before Sept. 11th, the Coast Guard spent only four percent of its assets on security issues. Now, it's up to 50 percent.

"Locally, we began to put greater emphasis on harbor security and Hawai'i ports than we ever have since World War II," Atnip said. "That's a very big paradigm shift from our focus on search and rescue, because it was always number one.

"To have search and rescue sharing a spotlight with homeland security and defense, that certainly shows a huge shift in our assets, priorities, time and people."

Atnip said the contract calls for the purchase nationwide of 91 ships, 35 fixed-wing aircraft, 34 helicopters and 76 pilot-less surveillance aircraft. It also provides an upgrade of 49 cutters, 93 helicopters and the communication system in Coast Guard stations nationwide.

Currently, the Coast Guard has only 91 ships and 207 aircraft.