Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft has been making the Capitol Hill rounds in the past few weeks, trying to sell lawmakers on the service's second polar icebreaker, and one is taking a particular interest.
In a letter sent to Zukunft on Wednesday, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., wants to speed up the shipbuilding process — asked the service to send over the details of its procurement plan, with an eye toward speeding up the process even if it means not having the fanciest ship right away.
The current timeline for a new heavy icebreaker isn't moving fast enough, Hunter said, and the service's 40-year-old Polar Star is too old to do the job on its own much longer.
"It is clear countries like Russia, with a large fleet of heavy icebreakers, understand the importance of a strong presence in the polar regions," Hunter wrote in his Wednesday letter to Zukunft. "Regrettably, the Coast Guard's current plan of action has a high likelihood of leaving our country without this important capability for at least several years."
A spokesman for Zukunft declined to discuss the letter Wednesday, saying the commandant would address the letter directly with Hunter's office. until leadership had not received and read it over.
The commandant first unveiled the plan in a speech at the annual Surface Navy Symposium in January, emphasizing that Russia has 41 heavy icebreakers in service and 14 under construction, while the U.S. has Polar Star and the medium icebreaker Healy, a scientific research ship, plus the inactive heavy icebreaker Polar Sea.
"We often come to this discussion of, well, we really can't afford it," Zukunft said. "Our [gross domestic product] is over eight times that of Russia — yet Russia's building 14."
Per the solicitation posted to Federal Business Opportunities, the service is looking at a 2020 production date that would put the ship on deployment as late as 2025.
$150 million is set aside in the fiscal year 2017 budget to put into a design of a new icebreaker, but Hunter is reserving his support until he sees a more detailed plan, he wrote.
That would include ideas for using existing icebreakers from international partners as a model, and what it would take to extend Polar Star's service life into 2025.
"It is my goal to ensure that a heavy icebreaker is acquired as efficiently and quickly as possible — and I hope the Coast Guard shares that goal."
Meghann Myers is the Pentagon bureau chief at Military Times. She covers operations, policy, personnel, leadership and other issues affecting service members.
