A multi-billion shortfall in operation and maintenance coffers is hampering US Coast Guard operations with a steep cliff looming on the horizon, according to Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan, Breaking Defense reports.
“I can feel it out there, but I don’t know what that tipping point is where there’s been some really profound sort of budget shortfall risk that we need to work to address,” Fagan told Breaking Defense Saturday on the sidelines of the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, Calif.
The four-star admiral estimated that her service funding really needs to grow from $13 billion up towards the $20 billion range, and that right now it could “ingest” $3 billion for operation and maintenance accounts to keep helicopters in the air and vessels mission ready. That additional $3 billion, Fagan added, could be used to shore up infrastructure, buy additional parts, maintenance, and for command, control, communication, computer, cyber and intelligence (C5I) initiatives.
As the service under the Department of Homeland Security umbrella moves to purchase and field new vessels, she said it’s becoming increasingly challenging to keep the assets it has up and running. Part of that problem revolves around a part shortage requiring the USCG to regularly pilfer parts from three or four ships just to fix one.
“On the large ships, we’ve normalized taking good parts,” Fagan added. “When a ship comes in from patrol, you take the good part off, you put it on the ship across the pier, so that that ship can get underway. We call it controlled parts exchanges. That’s not okay that we don’t have enough parts … and we’re deferring on dry docks. That will all begin to compound for more costs, not less, and it is eroding readiness.”
For example, in 2023 alone the service experienced a 200 percent increase in cannibalizing navigation and mission sensors, and there isn’t an end in sight. In fiscal 2025, a projected funding shortfall will mean the service is only able to do about half of its planned maintenance and inventory requirements.
That burgeoning crisis, she explained, has already prevented the USCG from meeting its commitments — including to the Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) South — because too many ships are undergoing unplanned maintenance, and there are not enough helicopters.
“What it means is ships that are … in port with unplanned maintenance are not on vector [to] help prevent loss of life at sea and the illegal maritime migration attempts, [or] not on vector interdicting cocaine and marijuana destined for the United States, or potentially not on vector when somebody gets in trouble at sea,” Fagan explained. “We’re not able to meet our search and rescue response times, helicopters that are unable to respond to hurricanes.”
