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Coast Guard Polar Icebreaking Operations
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Book Synopsis Polar Icebreaker Roles and U.S. Future Needs by : National Research Council
Download or read book Polar Icebreaker Roles and U.S. Future Needs written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2006-01-08 with total page 53 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The age and condition of the U.S. Coast Guard's polar icebreakers are jeopardizing national security and scientific research in the Arctic and Antarctic, according to an interim report from the National Academies. Because of a shortfall in funding for U.S. polar icebreaking activities, long-term maintenance on these icebreakers has been deferred over the past several years, making the ships inefficient to operate and their technological systems outdated. Congress asked the National Academies to provide a comprehensive assessment of the current and future roles of U.S. Coast Guard polar icebreakers in supporting U.S. operations in the Antarctic and the Arctic, including scenarios for continuing those operations and alternative approaches, the changes in roles and missions of polar icebreakers in the support of all national priorities in the polar regions, and potential changes in the roles of U.S Coast Guard icebreakers in the Arctic that may develop due to environmental change. This brief interim report highlights the most urgent and time-dependent issues, and a final report, expected to be released next summer, will examine the type and number of icebreaking ships that the U.S. requires in the long term and other issues.
Book Synopsis Polar Icebreakers in a Changing World by : National Research Council
Download or read book Polar Icebreakers in a Changing World written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2007-03-14 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States has enduring national and strategic interests in the polar regions, including citizens living above the Arctic circle and three year-round scientific stations in the Antarctic. Polar icebreaking ships are needed to access both regions. Over the past several decades, the U.S. government has supported a fleet of four icebreakersâ€"three multi-mission U.S. Coast Guard ships (the POLAR SEA, POLAR STAR, and HEALY) and the National Science Foundation's PALMER, which is dedicated solely to scientific research. Today, the POLAR STAR and the POLAR SEA are at the end of their service lives, and a lack of funds and no plans for an extension of the program has put U.S. icebreaking capability at risk. This report concludes that the United States should continue to support its interests in the Arctic and Antarctic for multiple missions, including maintaining leadership in polar science. The report recommends that the United States immediately program, budget, design, and construct two new polar icebreakers to be operated by the U.S. Coast Guard. The POLAR SEA should remain mission capable and the POLAR STAR should remain available for reactivation until the new polar icebreakers enter service. The U.S. Coast Guard should be provided sufficient operations and maintenance budget to support an increased, regular, and influential presence in the Arctic, with support from other agencies. The report also calls for a Presidential Decision Directive to clearly align agency responsibilities and budgetary authorities.
Book Synopsis Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization by : Ronald O'Rourke
Download or read book Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization written by Ronald O'Rourke and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010-03 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Of the Coast Guard¿s (CG) 3 polar icebreakers, 2 ¿ Polar Star and Polar Sea ¿ have exceeded their intended 30-year service lives. Potential policy issues for Congress regarding CG polar icebreaker modernization include: the numbers and capabilities of polar icebreakers the CG will need in the future; whether to provide these icebreakers through construction of new ships or service life extensions of Polar Start and/or Polar Sea; whether new ships should be funded entirely in the Coast Guard budget, or partly or entirely in some other part of the fed. budget; and whether the Polar Star should be repaired and placed back into service. Charts and tables.
Author :United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Subcommittee on Merchant Marine Publisher : ISBN 13 : Total Pages :60 pages Book Rating :4.0/5 (17 download)
Book Synopsis Coast Guard Polar Icebreaking Operations by : United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Subcommittee on Merchant Marine
Download or read book Coast Guard Polar Icebreaking Operations written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Subcommittee on Merchant Marine and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization by : Ronald O'Rourke
Download or read book Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization written by Ronald O'Rourke and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 67 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Coast Guard polar icebreakers perform a variety of missions supporting U.S. interests in polar regions. The Coast Guard's two heavy polar icebreakers-Polar Star and Polar Sea-have exceeded their intended 30-year service lives. The Polar Star is not operational and has been in caretaker status since July 1, 2006. Congress in FY2009 and FY2010 provided funding to repair Polar Star and return it to service for 7 to 10 years; the Coast Guard expects the reactivation project to be completed in 2013. On June 25, 2010, the Coast Guard announced that Polar Sea had suffered an unexpected engine casualty and consequently will likely be unavailable for operation until at least January 2011. The United States, which has various interests in the polar regions, currently has no operational heavy polar icebreakers. The Coast Guard's third polar icebreaker-Healy-entered service in 2000. Compared to Polar Star and Polar Sea, Healy has less icebreaking capability (it is considered a medium polar icebreaker), but more capability for supporting scientific research. The ship is used primarily for supporting scientific research in the Arctic.
Author :United States. Congress. House. Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Navigation Publisher : ISBN 13 : Total Pages :280 pages Book Rating :4.:/5 ( download)
Book Synopsis Coast Guard Miscellaneous: Domestic and Polar ice breaking operations by : United States. Congress. House. Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Navigation
Download or read book Coast Guard Miscellaneous: Domestic and Polar ice breaking operations written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Navigation and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization by : Ronald O'Rourke
Download or read book Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization written by Ronald O'Rourke and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-04-03 with total page 58 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The operational U.S. polar icebreaking fleet currently consists of one heavy polar icebreaker, Polar Star, and one medium polar icebreaker, Healy. In addition to Polar Star, the Coast Guard has a second heavy polar icebreaker, Polar Sea. This ship suffered an engine casualty in June 2010 and has been non-operational since then. Polar Star and Polar Sea entered service in 1976 and 1978, respectively, and are now well beyond their originally intended 30-year service lives. Coast Guard polar icebreakers perform a variety of missions supporting U.S. interests in polar regions. A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Mission Need Statement (MNS) approved in June 2013 states that "current requirements and future projections ... indicate the Coast Guard will need to expand its icebreaking capacity, potentially requiring a fleet of up to six icebreakers (3 heavy and 3 medium) to adequately meet mission demands in the high latitudes...." The current condition of the U.S. polar icebreaker fleet, the DHS MNS, and concerns among some observers about whether the United States is adequately investing in capabilities to carry out its responsibilities and defend its interests in the Arctic, have focused policymaker attention on the question of whether and when to acquire one or more new heavy polar icebreakers as replacements for Polar Star and Polar Sea. On September 1, 2015, the White House issued a fact sheet indicating that the Administration wants to begin building a new polar icebreaker in FY2020, and that the Administration will also "begin planning for construction of additional icebreakers" beyond the one that the Administration proposes to begin building in FY2020. On October 26, 2016, the Coast Guard released a request for information (RFI) to receive industry feedback on its notional polar icebreaker acquisition approach and schedule. The summary of the RFI, dated October 25, 2016, presents a notional schedule for acquiring three heavy polar icebreakers under which procurement of long leadtime materials (LLTM) for the three ships would start in the fourth quarter of FY2019, the second quarter of FY2021, and the second quarter of FY2022, respectively, and the ships would be delivered in the fourth quarter of FY2023, the second quarter of FY2025, and the second quarter of FY2026, respectively. (Each ship would be commissioned into service a few weeks or months after it is delivered.)
Book Synopsis Coast Guard Polar Icebreakers by : Nathan L. Scott
Download or read book Coast Guard Polar Icebreakers written by Nathan L. Scott and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Polar icebreakers can operate in the extreme conditions of, and break through the thick ice found in the Arctic Ocean and the waters surrounding Antarctica. Congress has expressed concern about the Coast Guard's ability to meet its polar operations mission requirements in light of the condition of the Coast Guard's polar icebreaker fleet, and directed the Coast Guard to submit a comprehensive report on polar operations. This book examines the issues facing Congress on whether it will approve or modify the Coast Guard's plan for modernising its polar icebreakers. Congressional decisions on this issue could affect the Coast Guard's ability to perform its polar missions, funding requirements and U.S. shipbuilding industrial base. This book consists of public documents which have been located, gathered, combined, reformatted, and enhanced with a subject index, selectively edited and bound to provide easy access.
Author :Congressional Research Service Publisher :Createspace Independent Publishing Platform ISBN 13 :9781976514913 Total Pages :66 pages Book Rating :4.5/5 (149 download)
Book Synopsis Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization by : Congressional Research Service
Download or read book Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization written by Congressional Research Service and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-09-18 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Coast Guard's proposed FY2018 budget requests $19 million in acquisition funding for a new polar icebreaker that the Coast Guard wants to begin building in FY2019. The total acquisition cost of a new polar icebreaker had generally been estimated informally at roughly $1 billion, including design costs, but a congressionally mandated July 2017 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) on the acquisition and operation of polar icebreakers estimates that the ship could cost less (and perhaps considerably less) than $1 billion. The project to acquire a new polar icebreaker was initiated in the Coast Guard's FY2013 budget submission. The project has received about $220.6 million in acquisition funding through FY2017, including $175 million in FY2017 that was provided in the Coast Guard's acquisition account ($25 million) and the Navy's shipbuilding account ($150 million). The operational U.S. polar icebreaking fleet currently consists of one heavy polar icebreaker, Polar Star, and one medium polar icebreaker, Healy. In addition to Polar Star, the Coast Guard has a second heavy polar icebreaker, Polar Sea. This ship suffered an engine casualty in June 2010 and has been non-operational since then. Polar Star and Polar Sea entered service in 1976 and 1978, respectively, and are now well beyond their originally intended 30-year service lives. Coast Guard polar icebreakers perform a variety of missions supporting U.S. interests in polar regions. A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Mission Need Statement (MNS) approved in June 2013 states that "current requirements and future projections ... indicate the Coast Guard will need to expand its icebreaking capacity, potentially requiring a fleet of up to six icebreakers (3 heavy and 3 medium) to adequately meet mission demands in the high latitudes...." The current condition of the U.S. polar icebreaker fleet, the DHS MNS, and concerns among some observers about whether the United States is adequately investing in capabilities to carry out its responsibilities and defend its interests in the Arctic, have focused policymaker attention on the question of whether and when to acquire one or more new heavy polar icebreakers as replacements for Polar Star and Polar Sea. On October 26, 2016, the Coast Guard released a request for information (RFI) to receive industry feedback on its notional polar icebreaker acquisition approach and schedule. The summary of the RFI, dated October 25, 2016, presents a notional schedule for acquiring three heavy polar icebreakers under which procurement of long leadtime materials (LLTM) for the three ships would start in the fourth quarter of FY2019, the second quarter of FY2021, and the second quarter of FY2022, respectively, and the ships would be delivered in the fourth quarter of FY2023, the second quarter of FY2025, and the second quarter of FY2026, respectively. The summary of the RFI states that the Coast Guard currently envisions having a single U.S. shipyard build all three ships under a contract with options. A contract with options can be viewed as a form of annual contracting. An alternative would be a block buy contract. A block buy contract would reduce the government's flexibility regarding whether and when to acquire the second and third ships, and what design to build them to, and in return reduce the combined acquisition cost of the three ships. CRS estimates that compared to costs using a contract with options, using a block buy contract that included batch purchases of materials and components for the three ships would reduce the combined acquisition cost of the three ships by upwards of 7%, which could equate to a savings of upwards of $200 million. The July 2017 NASEM report recommends using a block buy contract to procure a single class of four science-ready heavy polar icebreakers to meet (along with continued operation of Healy) U.S. needs for both heavy and medium polar icebreakers.
Book Synopsis Wind, Fire, and Ice by : Robert M. Bunes
Download or read book Wind, Fire, and Ice written by Robert M. Bunes and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-10-01 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 1955 and 1987, the United States Coast Guard Cutter Glacier was the largest and most powerful icebreaker in the free world. Consequently, it was often given the most difficult and dangerous Antarctic missions. This is the dramatic first-person account of its most legendary voyage. In 1970, the author was the Chief Medical Officer on the Glacier when it became trapped deep in the Weddell Sea, pressured by 100 miles of wind-blown icepack. Glacier was beset within seventy miles of where Sir Ernest Shackleton’s ship, the Endurance, was imprisoned in 1915. His stout wooden ship succumbed to the crushing pressure of the infamous Weddell Sea pack ice and sank, leading to an unbelievable two-year saga of hardship, heroism and survival. The sailors aboard the Glacier feared they would suffer Shackleton’s fate, or one even worse. Freakishly good luck eventually saved the Glacier from destruction in the crushing ice pack, only to experience a three-hour fire that nearly killed one of the crew, followed by eighty foot waves that came close to capsizing the ship. Wind, Fire, and Ice is a story about a physician who starts out with a set of false assumptions—namely that he is going have an easy assignment and see numerous exotic ports, but then slowly comes to realize a much different hard reality.
Author :United States. Congress. House. Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Navigation Publisher : ISBN 13 : Total Pages :276 pages Book Rating :4.3/5 (121 download)
Book Synopsis Icebreakers by : United States. Congress. House. Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Navigation
Download or read book Icebreakers written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Navigation and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Author :Congressional Service Publisher :Createspace Independent Publishing Platform ISBN 13 :9781725886278 Total Pages :78 pages Book Rating :4.8/5 (862 download)
Book Synopsis Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Program by : Congressional Service
Download or read book Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Program written by Congressional Service and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-08-20 with total page 78 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Coast Guard polar icebreaker program is a program to acquire three new heavy polar icebreakers, to be followed years from now by the acquisition of up to three new medium polar icebreakers. The Coast Guard wants to begin construction of the first new heavy polar icebreaker in FY2019 and have it enter service in 2023. The polar icebreaker program has received about $359.6 million in acquisition funding through FY2018, including $300 million provided through the Navy's shipbuilding account and $59.6 million provided through the Coast Guard's acquisition account. The Coast Guard's proposed FY2019 budget requests $750 million in Coast Guard acquisition funding for the program. The acquisition cost of a new heavy polar icebreaker had earlier been estimated informally at roughly $1 billion, but the Coast Guard and Navy now believe that three heavy polar icebreakers could be acquired for a total cost of about $2.1 billion, or an average of about $700 million per ship. The first ship will cost more than the other two because it will incorporate design costs for the class and be at the start of the production learning curve for the class. When combined with the program's $359.6 million in prior-year funding, the $750 million requested for FY2019 would fully fund the procurement of the first new heavy polar icebreaker and partially fund the procurement of the second. The operational U.S. polar icebreaking fleet currently consists of one heavy polar icebreaker, Polar Star, and one medium polar icebreaker, Healy. In addition to Polar Star, the Coast Guard has a second heavy polar icebreaker, Polar Sea. Polar Sea, however, suffered an engine casualty in June 2010 and has been nonoperational since then. Polar Star and Polar Sea entered service in 1976 and 1978, respectively, and are now well beyond their originally intended 30-year service lives. The Coast Guard has used Polar Sea as a source of spare parts for keeping Polar Star operational. A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Mission Need Statement (MNS) approved in June 2013 states that "current requirements and future projections ... indicate the Coast Guard will need to expand its icebreaking capacity, potentially requiring a fleet of up to six icebreakers (3 heavy and 3 medium) to adequately meet mission demands in the high latitudes...." The current condition of the U.S. polar icebreaker fleet, the DHS MNS, and concerns among some observers about whether the United States is adequately investing in capabilities to carry out its responsibilities and defend its interests in the Arctic, have focused policymaker attention on the question of whether and when to acquire one or more new heavy polar icebreakers as replacements for Polar Star and Polar Sea. On March 2, 2018, the U.S. Navy, in collaboration with the U.S. Coast Guard under the polar icebreaker integrated program office, released a request for proposal (RFP) for the advance procurement and detail design for the Coast Guard's heavy polar icebreaker, with options for detail design and construction for up to three heavy polar icebreakers. Issues for Congress for FY2019 for the polar icebreaker program include, inter alia, whether to approve, reject, or modify the Coast Guard's FY2019 acquisition funding request; whether to use a contract with options or a block buy contract to acquire the ships; whether to continue providing at least some of the acquisition funding for the polar icebreaker program through the Navy's shipbuilding account; and whether to procure heavy and medium polar icebreakers to a common basic design.
Author :United States. Congress. House. Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Publisher : ISBN 13 : Total Pages :64 pages Book Rating :4.0/5 ( download)
Book Synopsis The National Academy of Science [sic] Icebreaker Report by : United States. Congress. House. Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation
Download or read book The National Academy of Science [sic] Icebreaker Report written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 64 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis Coast Guard Polar Security Cutter ﷿Polar Icebreaker Program by : Ronald O'Rourke
Download or read book Coast Guard Polar Security Cutter ﷿Polar Icebreaker Program written by Ronald O'Rourke and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-05-22 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Coast Guard Polar Security Cutter (PSC) program is a program to acquire three new heavy polar icebreakers, to be followed years from now by the acquisition of up to three new medium polar icebreakers. On April 23, 2019, the Coast Guard-Navy Integrated Program Office for the PSC program awarded a $745.9 million fixed-price, incentive-firm contract for the detail design and construction (DD&C) of the first PSC to VT Halter Marine of Pascagoula, MS, a shipyard owned by Singapore Technologies (ST) Engineering. VT Halter was the leader of one of three industry teams that competed for the DD&C contract. The first PSC is scheduled to begin construction in 2021 and be delivered in 2024, though the DD&C contract includes financial incentives for earlier delivery. The DD&C contract includes options for building the second and third PSCs. If these options are exercised, the total value of the contract would increase to $1,942.8 million (i.e., about $1.9 billion). The figures of $745.9 million and $1,942.8 million cover only the shipbuilder's costs; they do not include the cost of government-furnished equipment (GFE), which is equipment for the ships that the government purchases and then provides to the shipbuilder for incorporation into the ship, or government program-management costs. When GFE and government program-management costs are included, the total estimated procurement cost of the first PSC is between $925 million and $940 million, and the total estimated procurement cost of the three-ship PSC program is about $2.95 billion.
Author :Congressional Research Congressional Research Service Publisher :CreateSpace ISBN 13 :9781505904857 Total Pages :52 pages Book Rating :4.9/5 (48 download)
Book Synopsis Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization by : Congressional Research Congressional Research Service
Download or read book Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization written by Congressional Research Congressional Research Service and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-12-23 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Coast Guard's FY2013 budget initiated a new project for the design and construction of a new polar icebreaker. The project received $7.609 million in FY2013 and $2.0 million in FY2014. The Coast Guard's proposed FY2015 budget requests $6 million to continue initial acquisition activities for the ship. Coast Guard polar icebreakers perform a variety of missions supporting U.S. interests in polar regions. The Coast Guard's two existing heavy polar icebreakers-Polar Star and Polar Sea-have exceeded their originally intended 30-year service lives. Polar Star was placed in caretaker status on July 1, 2006. Congress in FY2009 and FY2010 provided funding to repair it and return it to service for an additional 7 to 10 years of service; the repair work was completed and the ship was reactivated on December 14, 2012. On June 25, 2010, the Coast Guard announced that Polar Sea had suffered an unexpected engine casualty; the ship was unavailable for operation after that. The Coast Guard placed Polar Sea in commissioned, inactive status on October 14, 2011. The Coast Guard's third polar icebreaker-Healy-entered service in 2000. Compared to Polar Star and Polar Sea, Healy has less icebreaking capability (it is considered a medium polar icebreaker), but more capability for supporting scientific research. The ship is used primarily for supporting scientific research in the Arctic. With the reactivation of Polar Star, the operational U.S. polar icebreaking fleet consists of one heavy polar icebreaker (Polar Star) and one medium polar icebreaker (Healy). The new polar icebreaker for which initial acquisition funding is requested in the FY2013 budget would replace Polar Star at about the time Polar Star's 7- to 10-year reactivation period ends. The Coast Guard's strategy document for the Arctic region, released on May 21, 2013, states that "The United States must have adequate icebreaking capability to support research that advances fundamental understanding of the region and its evolution," and that "The Nation must also make a strategic investment in icebreaking capability to enable access to the high latitudes over the long-term."
Book Synopsis Arctic Imperatives by : Thad W. Allen
Download or read book Arctic Imperatives written by Thad W. Allen and published by Council on Foreign Relations Press. This book was released on 2017-03-01 with total page 83 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Book Synopsis Coast Guard by : United States Government Accountability Office
Download or read book Coast Guard written by United States Government Accountability Office and published by . This book was released on 2011-12-01 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Coast Guard has taken a variety of actions-from routine operations to a major analysis of mission needs in the polar regions-to identify its Arctic requirements. The routine operations have helped the Coast Guard to collect useful information on the capability of its existing assets to operate in cold climates and strategies for overcoming logistical challenges presented by long-distance responses to incidents, among other things. Other operational actions intended to help identify Arctic requirements include the establishment of temporary, seasonal operating locations in the Arctic and seasonal biweekly Arctic overflights, which have helped the Coast Guard to identify performance requirements and test personnel and equipment capabilities in the Arctic. The Coast Guard's primary analytical effort to identify Arctic requirements is the High Latitude Study, a multivolume analysis that is intended to, in part, identify the Coast Guard's current Arctic capability gaps and assess the degree to which these gaps will impact future missions. This study also identifies potential solutions to these gaps and compares six different options identified as Arctic force mixes-to a baseline representing the Coast Guard's current Arctic assets. However, given current budget uncertainty and the Coast Guard's recent acquisition priorities, it may be a significant challenge for the agency to acquire the assets that the High Latitude Study recommends. The most significant issue facing the Coast Guard's icebreaker fleet is the growing obsolescence of these vessels and the resulting capability gap caused by their increasingly limited operations. In 2010, Coast Guard officials reported challenges fulfilling the agency's statutory icebreaking mission. Since then, at least three reports-by the DHS Inspector General and Coast Guard contractors-have further identified the Coast Guard's challenges to meeting its current and future icebreaking mission requirements in the Arctic with its existing polar icebreaker fleet. Prior GAO work and these reports also identify budgetary challenges the agency faces in acquiring new icebreakers. Given these issues and the current budgetary climate, it is unlikely that the Coast Guard will be able to fund the acquisition of new icebreakers through its own budget, or through alternative financing options. Thus, it is unlikely that the Coast Guard will be able to expand the U.S. icebreaker fleet to meet its statutory requirements, and it may be a significant challenge for it to just maintain its existing level of icebreaking capabilities due to its aging fleet. In 2010, GAO reported the Coast Guard coordinates with various stakeholders on Arctic operations and policy, including foreign, state, and local governments, Alaskan Native governments and interest groups, and the private sector. GAO also reported that the Coast Guard coordinates with federal agencies, such as the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and DOD. More recently, the Coast Guard has partnered with DOD through the Capabilities Assessment Working Group-an interagency coordination group established in May 2011-to identify shared Arctic capability gaps as well as opportunities and approaches to overcome them, to include making recommendations for near-term investments. The establishment of this group helps to ensure collaboration between the Coast Guard and DOD addresses near-term capabilities in support of current planning and operations.
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