Appel d'offre avions US Coast Guards : Ocean Sentry

The U.S. Coast Guard may release its request for proposals (RFP) for more HC-144A Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) on April 2, according to aviation acquisition chief Capt. Jim Martin.

By the end of this year, the Coast Guard’s fleet will include 11 aircraft and 12 mission systems pallets. This new competition is for procurement of the MPA, which the Coast Guard calls the Ocean Sentry, outside of the old Deepwater agreement with former lead systems integrator Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS). The Coast Guard took over acquisition responsibility a few years ago when Deepwater erupted into a headline-grabbing example of problems in U.S. defense procurement.

Martin says five companies responded to the original sources sought document. Manufacturer EADS Casa, from whose ICGS-era CN-235 airframe the twin-engined HC-144A is derived, remains interested in the USCG-led acquisition.

“We expect it to go fairly smoothly,” Martin says, adding he hopes to award a contract by late July.

The Coast Guard is retiring its fleet of four Falcon HU-25s, and the Ocean Sentry is designed to fill that gap. But the timeline is “not lining up exactly with the retirement schedule,” Martin acknowledges. This year will not be too challenging because three additional HC-144As are being delivered to the Coast Guard’s base of operations in Miami. For the long term, however, between Fiscal 2011-2014, “we fall behind,” Martin says. He hopes to start catching up on the flight hour gap in 2015. “We won’t start catching up all at once, but it will be a start.”

The armed service has received eight of the 11 Ocean Sentries already on order, with plans for 36 total through the additional purchases. But the Coast Guard still faces a three-year gap in its airborne maritime patrol flight hours, as the pace of new aircraft slows in the face of budget constraints. “We wanted to have 20 HC-144As by 2014 and now it looks like we’ll only have 16,” Martin says.

Tight budgets also are forcing the Coast Guard to remove five H-65 helicopters from service. Beyond 36 HC-144As, the long-term plan for the fleet is to have 22 C-130s, 102 H-65s and 42 MH-60s, as well as new land- and cutter-based unmanned aerial vehicles, Martin says.

The MH-60 helicopter is on segment two of a four-segment upgrade that will run through 2018, Martin says. The next segment to be competed is for a new surface search radar, for which a request for proposals could be released in 2011. The H-65 has been undergoing the largest modification — a six-segment conversion and sustainment project that started in 2004. Of 102 aircraft, 55 have been upgraded to the latest airborne-use-of-force capability. Earlier upgrades entailed installing two Turbomeca Arriel 2C2-CG turbo-shaft engines and adaptation for joint air intercepts over the National Capital Region.

The Coast Guard is still in the midst of deciding what level capability it requires from land- and cutter-based UAVs. Martin says the Coast Guard’s FY ’12 budget will have some funds included to move the UAV project into its next phase.