Coast Guard's Deepwater to be marketed worldwide.

The U.S. government is laying plans to market the Coast Guard's Integrated Deepwater System Program--a major effort to modernize the service's aging ships, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft-to friendly nations all around the world.

The reason: Most countries have navies that greatly resemble the U.S. Coast Guard, according to Rear Adm. Patrick M. Stillman, program executive officer for Deepwater. They operate primarily along their country's coasts. Their missions focus mostly on search and rescue, smuggling and fisheries enforcement, and they sail relatively inexpensive, small ships, he told a recent conference sponsored by the U.S. Navy's International Programs Office and the National Defense Industrial Association.

In fact, Coast Guard studies estimate that the projected global market for frigates, corvettes and off-shore patrol vessels over the next 15 years is $57 billion, and the market for other elements of the Deepwater system over the next 10 years is $40 billion.

With this in mind, the Coast Guard in March signed a five-year memorandum of agreement with the Commerce Department to export elements of Deepwater.

The Commerce Department is assigning the task to the foreign commercial service, which has 1,800 employees in 83 countries, said James J. Jochum, assistant commerce secretary for export administration.

The department has hosted Deepwater briefings for foreign embassies and corporations in Washington, D.C., and overseas, he told the conference. It also has placed Deepwater exhibits at major trade shows from Australia to India to Britain.

"Later this year, we also will be hosting exhibits with the Coast Guard at trade shows in South Africa, France and Chile," Jochum said. "And we look forward to participating in future shows with the Lockheed Martin-Northrop Grumman team."

Commerce officials hope that international sales of Deepwater assets will "help stimulate a sluggish U.S. maritime industry, Jochum said. Since the end of the Cold War, foreign orders for U.S. warships have dropped 60 percent. In the year 2000, he said, the United States ranked tenth in the world in shipbuilding, constructing approximately one percent of all new commercial vessels larger than 1,000 gross tons.

The marketing is receiving some attention in Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand and Sweden.

Many countries, however, have small, shrinking defense budgets, warned Air Force Lt. Gen. Tome Walters, director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency. Some probably will need financial assistance in order to buy Deepwater technology, he noted.

Aware of that need, the Commerce Department is helping to line up export financing from the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, the U.S. Export-Import Bank, the Transportation Department's Maritime Administration and the Defense Export Loan Guarantee Program, Jochum said.

Under U.S. law, exporting defense technologies can be difficult, Jochum acknowledged. Commerce officials will work closely with the Navy, the State Department and the Defense Department to identify and address any export-control issues that may arise related to Deepwater, he said.

Navy Interested

Deepwater is drawing attention even from the U.S. Navy, whose officials see many similarities between it and their plans for a new littoral com bat ship. The LCS is envisioned as a small, specialized variant of the DD(X) family of future surface combat vessels.

Like the planned Deepwater vessels, the LCS is seen as a small, fast, relatively inexpensive vessel designed to operate along the world's coastlines. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Vernon E. Clark would like to build as many as 60 of such ships. Their mission, he told a Senate hearing in April, would be "to defeat enemy defenses, such as mines, small boats and submarines."

The LCS' modular design--like those for the Deepwater vessels--" will provide significant flexi-bility in both displacement and combat capability," said John J. Young Jr., assistant secretary of the Navy for research, development and acquisition. "These qualities may make it a good candidate for coordination with the ... Deepwater program."

Deepwater finally got underway--after years of planning--when the Coast Guard in June awarded the first in a series of five-year contracts for the program, which is worth up to $17 billion over the next 20 to 30 years. The contract went to Integrated Coast Guard Systems, a joint venture led by Lockheed Martin Naval & Surveillance Systems-Surface Systems, of Moorestown, N.J., and Northrop Grumman Ship Systems Ingalls Operation, of Pascagoula, Miss. If the team performs satisflictorily, the contract can be renewed repeatedly, Stillman explained in a wide-ranging interview, conducted in his spacious office overlooking the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C.

The award--the largest ever for the Coast Guard--calls for ICGS, over that period of time, to rebuild or replace the service's ocean-going ships and aircraft to meet its needs in fighting terrorists, drug smugglers and illegal immigrants, conducting search-and-rescue missions and enforcing fishing regulations.

The program is long overdue, Stiliman said. Of 39 navy and coast guard fleets around the world, he said, the U.S. service's is the 37th oldest.

Deepwater will involve the acquisition of 91 new ships, 35 fixed-wing aircraft, 34 helicopters and 76 unmanned surveillance aircraft, Stillman said. The service plans to begin retiring its oldest cutters, which were built during World War II, he said. Older fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters also will be retired. Many of the newer vessels and air assets, however, will be upgraded, Stillman explained.

Immediately after the award was announced, Coast Guard officials began the process of obligating $290 million in Deepwater funds from the 2002 budget, which ends on September 30. That money, Stillman said, is going toward:

* Renovation of the service's 110-foot cutters, which will be extended to lengths of 123 feet, giving them room for stern ramps to enhance small-boat launch and recovery operations.

* Acquisition of a new family of high-speed, rigid-hull inflatable boats, called long-range interceptors and short-range prosecutors, to be deployed on cutters.

* Beginning to replace the Coast Guard's medium-range surveillance aircraft, the HU-25 Guardian, a U.S.-built version of the French-designed Dassault-Brequet Falcon.

* Upgrading the service's C4ISR--command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance--capabilities.

Of these, Stillwell said, the C4ISR upgrade "is the most significant to overall Coast Guard capability. The C4ISR improvements, he said, will enhance real-time sharing of data and intelligence inside the Coast Guard and with other services, and identification of high-risk threats from vessels and cargoes before they reach U.S. shores.

During fiscal year 2003, Deepwater's pace will continue to increase, Stillman said. Early on, the Coast Guard will select a re placement for the Guardian, and the winning manufacturer will begin initial production of five aircraft. The service is considering the Spanish-made CASA CN 235 maritime-patrol aircraft.

The Deepwater industry team includes a number of European contractors, such as EADS Eurocopter, EADS CASA and Italy's Agusta. These companies' aircraft, for example, are included in the Lockheed-Northrop ream's proposal to the Coast Guard, but the service is not expected to make final procurement decisions for several years.

National-Security Cutter

At the same time, the Coast Guard will decide on a detailed design for the planned national-security cutter, which is intended to replace the service's 378-foot Hamilton class of high-endurance vessels. The Coast Guard's existing 12 Hamilton-class cutters, which date back to the 1960s, are the service's largest multi-mission, helicopter-compatible ships.

Also in 2003, the service will conduct more detailed studies of unmanned air vehicles. UAVs will be "a major innovation for the Coast Guard," Stillman explained. "Right now, we don't use them."

The Coast Guard plans to use ship-based vertical-takeoff UAVs (VTUAVs) and land-based, fixed-wing Global Hawks to conduct surveillance and reconnaissance missions over large areas of ocean, Stillman said.

The contract may be extended up to 30 years, Stillman said, but during the first five years, the contractor is slated to deliver:

* Upgrades to 42 existing major cutters, all HC-130H Hercules long-range surveillance aircraft, HH-60J Jayhawk and HH-65 Dolphin helicopters, and 17 command facilities ashore.

* Renovations to 2511 0-foot cutters.

* 12 maritime-patrol aircraft.

* Eight VFUAVs.

* The first national-security cutter.

Under the Deepwater program, three new classes of these vessels--the 425-foot national security cutter, the 341-foot offshore patrol cutter and the 130-foot fast-response cutter--have been designed from the keel up solely to perform Coast Guard missions, Stillman explained.

Small Boats

Upon departure for patrol, each cutter will be outfitted with the small-boat package and aviation detachment most appropriate for the mission. Most cutters will deploy with two small boats. The Deepwater project includes two kinds. Long-range interceptors, with small cabins and mounted automatic weapons, are capable of operating some distance from their mother ships in relatively benign sea conditions. The smaller, faster short-range prosecutor is designed to plow through rougher seas.

Larger cutters normally will deploy with two VTUAVs. Also, cutters beyond the range of the Coast Guard's land-based, manned surveillance flights usually will embark either a multi-mission cutter helicopter--an upgraded version of the Dolphin--or a vertical recovery and surveillance helicopter--a Bell Agusta AB-139.

In addition, the larger cutters can deploy with two armed helicopters--MH-68 Makos, militarized versions of the Italian Agusta Al 09E Power helicopter--for use against drug smugglers or terrorists. The Mako is armed with M240G machine guns, .50 caliber sniper rifles, stun guns and entanglement nets.

Helicopters embarked upon cutters become extensions of the ship, Stillman said. They increase the vessel's monitoring range for small-boat operations and surveillance of potential targets.

Fast-response cutters, he explained, could be deployed for a variety of rapidly changing missions, including law enforcement, port security, search and rescue, and defense operations. Their key capabilities will include maintaining a high state of readiness, patrolling near shore and intercepting targets of interest. An active fin stabilization system provides enhanced operations in rough seas.

Among the Coast Guard's existing fixed-wing aircraft, Stiliman said, the Guardians and HCl3OHs will get a modern sensor suite.

In addition, the service has ordered six HC130J aircraft-the latest version of the series-made by Lockheed Martin, a partner in the ICGS team.

Some critics have said that the Deepwater program focuses too much on the Coast Guard's ocean-going missions, especially with the post 9/11 need to improve port security, but Stiliman disagreed.

"We have to get out there and get on top of those problems while they're still at sea, before they get to Boston or Norfolk or Seattle," he said. "For us, Deepwater is all about getting that boarding party on board another ship in a large body of water. That need became more profound after 9/11."