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Explore the aircraft, cutters and boats used by the Coast Guard to conduct various missions throughout the world.
The OPC will provide a critical capability bridge between the national security cutter, which patrols the open ocean in the most demanding maritime environments, and the fast response cutter, which serves closer to shore. The OPC will feature state-of-the market technology and will replace the service’s 270-foot and 210-foot medium endurance cutters, which are becoming increasingly expensive to maintain and operate. These medium endurance cutter classes have been in operation for 25 to 50 years and are in many respects technologically obsolete. The OPC is the most affordable way to meet the service’s long-term need for cutters capable of deploying independently or as part of task groups to conduct law enforcement, search and rescue, homeland security and defense missions
Delivery of the lead OPC is planned for 2021. Twenty five vessels are planned. The Coast Guard established the project resident office (PRO) for OPC acquisition at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., in July 2016 to lay the groundwork for the new unit and ensure efficient transition of acquisition personnel to the shipyard facilities. The PRO is staffed with Coast Guard personnel who oversee work and provide management of contract execution for the OPC acquisition; it moved to facilities at Eastern Shipbuilding Group’s shipyard in Panama City in May 2017.