US Coast Guard taps Saab radar for its offshore patrol cutter

[Boats]

US Coast Guard taps Saab radar for its offshore patrol cutter
By: David B. Larter 10-4-17
RE: https://www.defensenews.com/naval/20...patrol-cutter/

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy on behalf of the U.S. Coast Guard has awarded Saab a nearly $17 million contract for its Sea Giraffe agile multibeam, multimode radar for its new offshore patrol cutter, or OPC, gearing up for construction starting next year.

The $16.8 million contract will be for two systems. The Sea Giraffe AMB is the same radar the U.S. Navy uses on its Independence-class littoral combat ships.

Sea Giraffe is a surface and air search, electronically scanned phased array radar.

In September, the Coast Guard inked a $41.68 million contract with the Florida-based Eastern Shipbuilding Group for long lead time materials for the first OPC, the cutter Argus. Eastern is the lead contractor building the OPCs.

Argus is scheduled to start construction in late 2018 and should deliver to the Coast Guard in 2021. In August, the Coast Guard announced the names of the first 11 OPCs.

The OPC is planned as the Coast Guard’s midrange cutter, between the 418-foot National Security Cutter and the 154-foot Sentinel-class fast response cutter. The ship is slated to be 360 feet long, 54 feet wide and have a draft of 17 feet. The OPC will have a top speed of 22.5 knots, according to the Coast Guard’s website.