Lockheed wins C4ISR security contract for Coast Guard cutter
The company was recently awarded a $72 million contract to provide a C4ISR system for the Coast Guard’s eighth National Security Cutter.
Lockheed Martin has received a $72 million contract through the National Security Cutter (NSC) program in support for the Coast Guard’s maritime enforcement efforts. The NSC program, in the Coast Guard’s words, is “the centerpiece of the Coast Guard’s fleet, capable of executing the most challenging operations, including supporting maritime homeland security and defense missions.”
Lockheed will provide a Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) system for the Guard’s eighth National Security Cutter, the future USCGC Midgett from Huntington Ingalls Industries, according to a release from the defense contracting giant. Huntington Ingalls, which is building the cutter, awarded the contract.
The Defense Department has placed a renewed focus on maritime security recently, as evidenced by the release in March of an updated maritime strategy for the Navy, Marines and Coast Guard.
“The NSC’s C4ISR system integrates data from navigation sensors, communications links and tactical systems to provide an operational picture of its patrol area that enables the U.S. Coast Guard to successfully conduct their many missions,” said Ed Segrest, program manager for Communications and Security Technologies at Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training. “The system provides the underway crew with the most current maritime data and tactical picture for effective decision making and safety in maritime operations.”
Additionally, Lockheed said its C4ISR system “offers comprehensive, real-time situational awareness, communications and interoperability, which allows the crew to assist vessels in distress; track and engage targets of interest; collaborate with other Coast Guard air, sea and land assets; and act on the most up-to-date information available.”