The Coast Guard’s Office of International Acquisition manages the service’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Program, which acquires and delivers Coast Guard assets to foreign customers approved by the Department of Defense (DoD). The program establishes long-term partnerships and provides allies with access to the same assets the Coast Guard uses every day. The office is also responsible for the transfer of excess decommissioned assets under the Excess Defense Articles (EDA) program.
Why does the Coast Guard provide our assets to foreign governments?
Through these programs, the Coast Guard builds international partners’ capacity and develops relationships that enhance the pursuit of cooperatively shared maritime safety and security goals. These projects have contributed more than $900 million to the U.S. economy and avoided more than $100 million in disposal costs for the Coast Guard from 1997 to today.
Assets delivered include vessels that range in size from 25-foot response boats to 378-foot cutters, as well as maritime patrol aircraft. These assets, which have gone to more than 50 allied nations in the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Middle East, are critical to the development of navies and coast guards around the world.
How is the FMS Program funded?
More than 95 percent of FMS management and execution is funded via the U.S. Navy’s International Programs Office, from the DoD FMS administration trust fund, a pooled fund supplied via a surcharge on FMS purchases.