US Coast Guard orders two additional fast response cutters

The US Coast Guard has exercised a contract option to award Bollinger Shipyards of Louisiana the construction of two additional Sentinel-class fast response cutters (FRCs).

This recent contract award brings the total number of FRCs awarded to Bollinger up to 67 vessels since the program's inception. To date, the US Coast Guard has commissioned 55 FRCs into operational service.

Both FRCs will be built at Bollinger's facilities in Lockport, Louisiana.

As with their earlier sisters, the FRCs will each have a length of 154 feet (46.9 metres), a flank speed of 28 knots, a state of the art C4ISR suite, and a stern launch and recovery ramp for a 26-foot (7.92-metre), over-the-horizon interceptor cutter boat. Armament will include a 25mm autocannon and four 12.7mm machine guns.

The Sentinel-class cutters are designed for multiple missions including drug and migrant interdiction, ports, waterways and coastal security, fishery patrols, and search and rescue (SAR).