Retour aux nouvelles

10 juin 2020 | International, Naval, Sécurité

White House Orders New Icebreaker Strategy For Coast Guard

“I certainly hope the Pentagon is not going to come back after studying this again, saying there's no need," for more Arctic infrastructure, said Sen. Dan Sullivan. "The infrastructure is not fine. It doesn't exist. And we need it to exist.”

By on June 09, 2020 at 5:37 PM

WASHINGTON: The White House today ordered a major rethink of current plans for a new Coast Guard heavy icebreaker fleet, calling for the ability to launch drones, install intelligence-collection systems, and consider “defensive armament” to “defend against threats by near-peer competitors” and consider the “potential for nuclear-powered propulsion.”

The call to consider new designs for at least three ships already slated to be built over the next half-decade is a sure sign of growing concern in Washington over Russian and Chinese advances in putting more heavy, nuclear-powered ships in the water while the US remains stuck with just two 40 year-old operational breakers. The Coast Guard already has plans for three new, non-nuclear icebreakers to be built by 2026, with several medium icebreakers to follow in later years. It's not clear if the White House is asking for a complete redesign of those ships, but the memo clearly indicates a desire to expand their capabilities significantly.

The memo gives acting Homeland Security secretary Chad Wolf, in conjunction with the State and Defense departments, just 60 days to come up with a plan to run a study of how to build a new icebreaking fleet that consists of “at least” three heavy polar-class security cutters that are “operationally tested and fully deployable by Fiscal Year 2029.”

The ships should be able to perform “the full range of national and economic security missions (including the facilitation of resource exploration and exploitation and undersea cable laying and maintenance),” the memo states, a clear nod to worries that both China and Russia are rushing to secure natural resources long trapped under the polar ice caps.

The Pentagon and Navy are slated to take part in the snap 60-day assessment, which includes a demand for recommendations for least two new bases in the US, and at least two new international bases.

At least one of those bases would likely be in Alaska, meeting a years-long demand from Alaska Senator Dan Sullivan, who is waiting for the Pentagon to finish a study on a potential strategic port in his state later this summer.

Sullivan managed to get language in the 2020 defense authorization bill ordering the Pentagon to study new ports in Alaska, after years of the military saying there was no need.

“At long last, the federal government has woken up to the fact that the Arctic is a region of great strategic competition,” the senator said in an emailed statement. “Unfortunately, our adversaries are well ahead of the United States when it comes to Arctic infrastructure.” Noting his efforts to bring the Pentagon's attention to these issues, he added, “this presidential memo will add weight to these efforts and will send a signal to our adversaries and those who are laying claim to the Arctic that the United States will not cede ground in this strategic location.”

Pentagon officials have said privately that refurbishing existing ports in Alaska for military use would be expensive, and they're not fully convinced there is a need. Sullivan, aware of those arguments, added, “I certainly hope the Pentagon is not going to come back after studying this again, saying there's no need. The infrastructure is not fine. It doesn't exist. And we need it to exist.”

One congressional staffer who is familiar with with the issue said part of the problem Arctic advocates have encountered is that “there is no clear official within the Department of Defense that handles Arctic issues,” and despite some efforts on Capitol Hill to create a new deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Arctic, military leaders see the region as “not as high a priority as some other things — the Department of Defense seems to be one of the last federal agencies in the country to understand the strategic importance and relevance of the Arctic.”

While the Coast Guard already has an icebreaker plan in hand, this new White House push might scramble those if the executive branch demands significant changes to the class, the first of which is slated to begin construction in 2021.

As Washington ponders the possibility of building nuclear-powered icebreakers, two Russian companies are already at work building the world's most powerful nuclear breaker, the first step in an ambitious new Arctic strategy Moscow hopes will open lucrative new shipping routes in the Arctic. The country currently operates 40 icebreakers along the Northern Sea Route in the high north. Moscow has also unveiled plans to build dozens of non-nuclear new icebreakers in the coming years, including at least 13 heavy icebreakers, nine of which would be nuclear-powered, if plans laid out by Russian President Vladimir Putin hold.

For its part, China has already matched the US in the number of icebreakers it has in its fleet, though only one of the two was built domestically. Beijing has expressed a desire to float a nuclear-powered breaker at some point in the future, though plans remain unclear. The first ship, MV Xuelong, was built at a Ukrainian shipyard but has since been upgraded by Chinese shipyards.

https://breakingdefense.com/2020/06/white-house-orders-new-icebreaker-strategy-for-coast-guard

Sur le même sujet

  • Netherlands ‘very welcome’ to join European sub program — with a caveat

    5 avril 2018 | International, Naval

    Netherlands ‘very welcome’ to join European sub program — with a caveat

    By: Sebastian Sprenger COLOGNE, Germany — The Netherlands would be welcome to join a German-Norwegian submarine acquisition program, even as the door is closing for final design work on the boats, the Norwegian defense ministry said. The statement comes as German defense industry officials have talked for weeks about what they believe is an impending move to reshuffle big-ticket shipbuilding programs by way of a new naval cooperation umbrella with the Dutch. In that telling, The Hague would join the purchase of 212CD-class submarines, built by Thyssen Krupp Marine Systems' undersea division, and gain a say in the fate of Germany's Mehrzweck-Kampfschiff 180 frigate program, from which the surface division of TKMS was excluded last month. While Berlin and The Hague have officially kept mum about details, several German industry officials and analysts surveyed for this article believe the prospect of a Dutch move is keeping the MKS-180 program's fate unpredictable. When asked about the Netherlands' interest in the German combat ship effort, Dutch defense ministry spokesman Peter Valstar only wrote in an email to Defense News that senior acquisition officials from both countries had met recently to discuss “various topics like possible cooperations on all kinds of defense projects.” As for submarines, “We're currently in the B-phase (research) of our so-called ‘Defence Material Process,‘” Valstar wrote. “The ‘need' (A-phase) of a submarine purchase is clear. The C-phase (further research) and D-phase (product and supplier) are still to come.” Norway has always considered the door open for additional submarine buyers since Oslo teamed with Berlin last year. The joint acquisition would see Norway buy four boats and Germany two. Buying and maintaining identical submarines would keep cost down for both countries, the argument goes. “Norway and Germany would like to see additional partners joining the cooperation, and it would be very welcome if the Netherlands should decide to join,” Norwegian defense ministry spokeswoman Ann Kristin Salbuvik wrote in an email to Defense News. “We are working together towards several potential nations, and we have a good dialogue with potential partners,” Salbuvik added when asked if the Dutch had formally expressed an interest. But the door is closing for would-be partners to have a say in the boats' configurations. “The design of the German-Norwegian submarines will soon be frozen in order for the supplier, TKMS, to be able to provide a binding offer in July 2018,” the spokeswoman wrote. “After this point in time, design changes will be costly, and will also have a negative impact on time and delivery schedules for the German-Norwegian submarine building program,” she added. “If additional partners join the cooperation, it will be beneficial for them to strive for as identical a design as possible.” It is unclear how far discussions for a Dutch-German naval armaments pact have bubbled up toward the defense ministries' leaders. But the issue is “very much a topic of conversation in political Berlin,” one source noted. If given the chance to tweak the MKS-180 configuration, the Dutch would push for a smaller ship design than is currently envisioned, one industry source predicted. With Damen Shipyards, the Dutch already have local industry in the running for the program, teaming with Germany's Blohm &Voss, which is now part of the German Lürssen group. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2018/04/04/netherlands-very-welcome-to-join-european-sub-program-with-a-caveat/

  • Northrop reports strong growth, expects ‘zero profit’ on B-21 contract

    26 octobre 2023 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR

    Northrop reports strong growth, expects ‘zero profit’ on B-21 contract

    Northrop Grumman officials cautioned that the B-21 Raider won't be profitable at first, though they see it driving future growth.

  • Europe : malgré l'aiguillon Trump, la défense commune n'avance qu'à petits pas

    20 septembre 2018 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR

    Europe : malgré l'aiguillon Trump, la défense commune n'avance qu'à petits pas

    Par Alain Barluet Si les coups de boutoir de Donald Trump contre l'Otan ont provoqué une prise de conscience importante, les Européens ne parviennent toujours pas à structurer un projet commun. Certains chiffres parlent d'eux-mêmes: moins de la moitié des chars en service dans les armées de l'UE sont de conception européenne et 20 % seulement pour l'artillerie. La propension limitée des Européens à «acheter européen» pour doter leurs forces, la grande disparité des matériels qu'ils utilisent (60 types d'équipements terrestres différents dans l'Union, contre 20 aux États-Unis) illustrent le chemin qui reste à parcourir sur le chemin d'une Europe de la défense. Et encore ne s'agit-il là que du domaine capacitaire. Pourtant, depuis l'an dernier, les conditions d'une prise de conscience ont progressé. Les coups de boutoir du président américain contre l'Otan, qu'il juge «obsolète», et les Européens, qu'il considère comme trop peu investis dans leur défense, ont provoqué une onde de choc de ce côté-ci de l'Atlantique. Un certain nombre de pays, dont la France, ont augmenté leur budget de ... Article complet: http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/2018/09/19/01003-20180919ARTFIG00267-l-europe-de-la-defense-n-avance-qu-a-petits-pas.php

Toutes les nouvelles