Coast Guard to get upgrade for new mission
By William Cole and Shayna Coleon
Advertiser Staff Writers
The U.S. Coast Guard in Hawai'i, undertaking a new role in the war on terrorism, will receive new ships and aircraft and an upgraded communication system as part of a nationwide, $17 billion contract to bring far-reaching improvements to the agency over the next 20 years.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
At the same time, the Coast Guard is taking on a lead maritime role for homeland defense in the state.
The Coast Guard in Hawai'i, whose focus now is on homeland security, will be getting new ships and aircraft.
"America has never needed the Coast Guard as much as America needs the Coast Guard now," commandant of the Coast Guard Adm. Tom Collins, a former Hawai'i District commander, said yesterday in Washington, D.C., when announcing the improvements.
Coast Guard officials yesterday did not know Hawai'i's exact share of the new $17 billion contract, but among the state's cut are two new "national security" cutter ships, new aircraft and ship upgrades.
Lt. DesaRae Atnip, a Coast Guard spokeswoman in Hawai'i, said maritime terrorism, drug trafficking, and illegal immigrant operations are all threats, and "now is the best time for the Coast Guard to step up and be in the spotlight finally and get the funding it needs to protect the American people."
Atnip said "it's still up in the air where all the chips are going to fall with (homeland security), but in Hawai'i, the Coast Guard is going to be in charge of domestic maritime security."
Under the still evolving role, Atnip said, the Coast Guard will work with the Customs Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Department of Agriculture to coordinate intelligence-sharing, and "get the right assets and right resources at the right time" to counter threats like terrorism.
The replacement program was triggered in part by post-Sept. 11 security needs, Atnip said. The joint contract, awarded yesterday to Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Ship System Corp., is the largest in the Coast Guard's 212-year history.
The national security cutters, more than 400 feet long, would replace two 378-foot cutters, the Rush and the Jarvis, that were launched in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Atnip said.
Two 110-foot cutters stationed in Honolulu and a third in Hilo would be upgraded and lengthened to 123 feet, and short-range "prosecutor" speed boats would be added at their sterns for swift ship interdiction.
New aircraft are planned to replace the fleet of four aging C-130s, and four Dolphin helicopters will be upgraded at Air Station Barbers Point. Hawai'i also will receive at least four unmanned aerial vehicles similar to those used in Afghanistan that the Coast Guard plans to use for surveillance, Atnip said.
The first new ships should be delivered to Hawai'i in the first five years of the program, with the upgrades to the 110-foot cutters coming in the 2003 fiscal year starting in October.
The contract also will mean updated communication systems that will allow ships and planes to share more information.
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks 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. For years, the Coast Guard has complained of financial neglect.
"All of our assets are old," Atnip 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."
Norway, Brazil, Italy, Greece and South Africa are among nations that have Coast Guards equipped with newer cutters.
Atnip said that before Sept. 11, the Coast Guard spent only 4 percent of its time on domestic security issues. Since then, that's increased to 50 percent. In Hawai'i, more than 8,000 hours have been spent on homeland security patrols. There have been 350 ship boardings, and the Coast Guard also has inspected 695 cargo containers.
"Locally, we began to put greater emphasis on harbor security in Hawai'i ports than we ever have since World War II," Atnip said. "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."
President Bush recently proposed adding several thousand personnel to the Coast Guard, Atnip said, adding, "If the president's budget is approved, Hawai'i certainly would get more personnel." The Coast Guard has about 1,000 active-duty personnel in Hawai'i.
Atnip said the new contract calls for the purchase nationwide of 91 ships, 35 fixed-wing aircraft, 76 unmanned aerial vehicles and 34 helicopters. It also provides upgrades to 49 cutters, 93 helicopters and the communication systems in Coast Guard stations nationwide.
Currently, the Coast Guard has 91 ships and 207 aircraft.
Reach Shayna Coleon at scoleon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8004, and William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
