Coast Guard wants four more Bollinger cutters

The U.S. Coast Guard has exercised a contract option to award Bollinger Shipyard four additional Sentinel-class fast response cutters, Bollinger said Tuesday in a press release.
This announcement brings the total number of FRCs awarded to Bollinger up to 64 vessels since the program’s inception. To date, the U.S. Coast Guard has commissioned 43 FRCs into operational service.
“We’re incredibly proud of the work we do at Bollinger, and we’re especially proud of our long history supporting the U.S. Coast Guard that stretches nearly four decades,” said Bollinger Shipyards President and CEO Ben Bordelon. “Our unique experience building for the Coast Guard is unparalleled and has shown time and time again that we can successfully deliver the highest quality vessels on a reliable, aggressive production schedule and cost, even in the most challenging circumstances, including the global pandemic and record hurricane season experienced over the past year. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the Coast Guard.”
All four FRCs will be built at Bollinger’s Lockport facility and are scheduled for delivery to the Coast Guard between fall 2024 and summer 2025.
The FRC program has had a total economic impact of $1.7 billion since inception in material spending and directly supports more than 650 jobs in southeast Louisiana, Bollinger said.
The program has indirectly created 1,690 new jobs from operations and capital investment and has an annual economic impact on GDP of $202 million, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Maritime Administration on the economic importance of the U.S. Shipbuilding and Repair Industry. Bollinger sources over 271,000 different items for the FRC consisting of 282 million components and parts from 965 suppliers in 37 states.
In addition to the construction of the FRC, Bollinger builds the T-ATS for the U.S. Navy and regional class research vessels for the National Science Foundation through Oregon State University. Bollinger is participating in industry studies for four government programs, including the U.S. Coast Guard’s Offshore Patrol Cutter program, the U.S. Navy’s Auxiliary General Ocean Surveillance program, the U.S. Navy’s Large Unmanned Surface Vehicle (LUSV) program and the U.S. Navy’s Light Amphibious Warship (LAW) program.
The FRC is an operational “game changer,” according to senior Coast Guard officials. FRCs are consistently being deployed in support of the full range of missions within the United States Coast Guard and other branches of the armed services.