Page 1 GAO-25-106822 COAST GUARD ACQUISITIONS
The U.S. views the Arctic region as growing in strategic importance and needing
increased U.S. presence. Russia and China are making military and economic
investments demonstrating their interest in the area. The 2022 National Strategy
for the Arctic Region notes that climate change is amplifying the region’s
economic importance because the variability in the amount of ice coverage is
making it more accessible than ever before. Seasonal ice coverage requires the
U.S. to have polar icebreakers to operate in the Arctic to help ensure safe
maritime navigation and emergency response.
The U.S. Coast Guard—a maritime military service and component of the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—has identified that it has insufficient
capacity to assure U.S. presence and reliable access to the Arctic. To address
this operational shortfall, it plans to potentially quadruple its number of polar
icebreakers over the next 20 years, going from two to eight or nine.
You asked us to examine the status of the Coast Guard’s efforts to address its
short- and long-term gaps in polar icebreakers. This report discusses, among
other questions: the Coast Guard’s role and how its current polar icebreakers
enable it to operate in the Arctic and Antarctic; how the Coast Guard analyzed its
polar icebreaking needs; and the extent to which it has considered options to
expand the future fleet. We also identify open questions about the polar fleet
expansion that the Coast Guard has yet to address, including questions about
costs and affordability. We have previously made recommendations that DHS
ensure the design of the Polar Security Cutter program—its current icebreaker
acquisition program—is sufficiently mature before the Coast Guard starts
construction and to improve schedule oversight.
• The Coast Guard is considering multiple efforts to expand its polar icebreaker
fleet from the current two to either eight or nine. However, it has yet to
determine the mix of medium and heavy polar icebreakers, known as Arctic
Security Cutters and Polar Security Cutters, respectively, or the associated
costs that are a part of its long-term strategy.
• To address near-term gaps, the Coast Guard plans to extend the service life
of its two operational polar icebreakers. It also plans to purchase and convert
a commercially available polar icebreaker (CAPI), something it has never
done before. But it lacks information on the full cost to do so.
• We recommend that the Coast Guard develop a detailed cost estimate for the
CAPI and that it develop an analysis of the cost and sequencing for the
planned polar icebreaker fleet expansion within the context of its larger
acquisition portfolio and priorities. DHS did not concur with the first
recommendation and did concur with the second.
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Coast Guard Acquisitions:
Further Cost and
bility Analysis of Polar Fleet Needed
-25-106822
Report to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, House of Representatives
mber 19, 2024
