Aug. 1, 2025 —
On July 31, the Coast Guard exercised a contract option with Austal USA of Mobile, Alabama, to begin construction of the second Stage 2 offshore patrol cutter (OPC) and acquire long lead-time material to support future construction of a third Stage 2 OPC. This action brings the total number of OPCs under contract to four: two at Austal USA and two at Eastern Shipbuilding Group in Panama City, Florida. The total value of the option is $273 million.
The Coast Guard in June 2022 awarded a fixed-price incentive (firm target) contract to Austal USA to build the future Coast Guard Cutter Pickering and included options to produce up to 10 additional OPCs, for 11 cutters in total. The award was part of a revised OPC acquisition strategy to mitigate cost and schedule risks and deliver OPCs to the fleet as quickly as possible. Production of Pickering began in August 2024. A keel authentication ceremony for Pickering will be held later this year.
This contract action was supported with prior-year appropriations; however, the Coast Guard recently received $4.3 billion through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to build out the remaining nine Stage 2 cutters well ahead of schedule.
The OPCs will conduct missions including law enforcement, drug and alien interdiction, search and rescue, and other homeland security and defense operations. Each OPC will be capable of deploying independently or as part of task groups, serving as a mobile command and control platform for surge operations such as hurricane response, mass migration incidents and other events. The cutters will also support Arctic objectives by helping regulate and protect emerging commerce and energy exploration in Alaska.
For more information: Offshore Patrol Cutter Program page