Coast Guard acquires new aircraft and $ 45 million hangar at Barbers Point

In late October, Honolulu-based coastguard Kimball returned home after a 66-day patrol in the Bering Sea and the Arctic during which he monitored four Chinese Navy ships – a cruiser and destroyer. missile launchers and intelligence and auxiliary ships – operating as close as possible. 46 miles off the Aleutian Islands.

Around the same time, the Coast Guard, including the Honolulu-based cutter William Hart and a C-130 Hercules transport plane from Barbers Point, participated in Operation Kurukuru in Oceania.

Australian and French navy, US Coast Guard and Pacific nation ships and aircraft acted in concert to tackle illegal fishing during the operation, which saw 300 vessel sightings and 78 boardings.

In August, meanwhile, National Security Coast Guard Munro from California made a passage through the Taiwan Strait with a Navy destroyer, angering China.

In recent years, the Coast Guard has dramatically increased their reach and capabilities across the vastness of the Pacific with increasing problems in China and the Arctic, and Honolulu is once again getting a boost in this department. .

Air Station Barbers Point received its first HC-130J Super Hercules long-range surveillance aircraft in June, with two more expected by the end of next summer, the service said.

The C-130Js – the latest iteration of the workhorse military aircraft – have been upgraded with a 20% increase in speed and altitude and a 40% increase in range over older HC models- 130H which they replace in Hawaii.

Long-range mobility is the key to the success of the US military in the Pacific. With that in mind, Admiral Karl Schultz, Commander of the Coast Guard, said the new Barbers Point aircraft is part of a “game-changing capability.”

“We are installing C-130J planes at Barbers Point, Hawaii, replacing older C-130H planes,” Schultz said in July while in Guam. “So the J’s have longer endurance, they have more sensor capabilities on board. Previously you had to stop at Wake (island) ‘or other places to get fuel. “Now they can fly directly. “

Schultz noted that “the region is important” and that the Coast Guard is “attached to that importance with increased capacity and increased capacity of the Coast Guard, both”.

A new $ 45 million hangar to fully enclose a C-130J for maintenance at Barbers Point has been funded by Congress and is now in the design phase, said Petty Officer Matthew West, spokesperson of Coast Guard District 14 in Honolulu.

The Coast Guard’s overall budget request of $ 13.1 billion for fiscal year 2022 includes $ 20 million for the purchase of spare parts and ground support equipment required for the Air’s transition Barbers Point station from the old HC-130H to the new HC-130J.

In recent years, the Honolulu Coast Guard has received two new 418-foot national security cutters – the largest and best-performing vessel in its fleet – and three new 154-foot rapid-response cutters that have more great endurance at sea.

The additions are part of the Coast Guard’s largest recapitalization since World War II. In a big power competition with China, the Coast Guard has become a popular Swiss Army knife player with limited budgets.

In December 2020, the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard released a three-service maritime strategy noting that China is deploying a multi-tiered fleet that includes its Navy, Chinese Coast Guard, and Maritime Militia Forces popular armies nicknamed the “little blue men”.

In March, more than 200 of the blue-hulled armed fishing boats invaded the Whitsun Reef in the Philippine Exclusive Economic Zone, an intimidating example of war-shortened “gray zone” tactics.

“The Coast Guard’s mission profile makes it the preferred maritime security partner of many countries vulnerable to coercion,” states the strategy of the three services. “The integration of its unique authorities – law enforcement, fisheries protection, maritime security and maritime security – with the capabilities of the Navy and Marine Corps expands the options we offer to joint force commanders. “

Schultz said in 2019 that the Coast Guard was “doubling” its commitment to Oceania, which he defined as the region between Hawaii and Australia, with increased deployments and the stationing of three rapid-response cutters in Guam.

Last year, Schultz noted the planned upgrade of the C-130Js at Barbers Point, saying that “their superior speed and endurance make the aircraft ideal for monitoring US interests in the vast region of Oceania.”

The aircraft is equipped with advanced radar and electro-optical / infrared sensors for search and rescue, law enforcement and intelligence gathering, and a range of 5,600 miles.

Even with the improvements, some consider the Coast Guard budget insufficient for a rapidly growing set of missions, particularly in the Pacific and Arctic.

At a Surface Navy Association event in 2021, Schultz said the Coast Guard needed “sustainable annual budget growth – I would say 3-5% over the next five years,” to close a gap of preparation and that the Chinese coastguard should exert even more influence, National Defense magazine reported.

A slide from Schultz’s presentation noted that the world is entering an “era of the coast guard,” the publication said.

Currently, Air Station Barbers Point has three older versions of the C-130H and one “J” model, with plans to drop an “H” version when a new “J” arrives, West of the Guard said. coastal.

“With the recent asset acquisitions, the Coast Guard is able to support partner regions with better technology and more capable resources,” West said in an email. He added that air and surface resources “have been enhanced for a longer deployment capability, a key factor in the large Indo-Pacific area of ​​responsibility (District 14) of 12.2 million square miles.”