The Superb Finland & USA Icebreaker Deal is Here

faster would be nicer

From the better-late-than-never file: after waiting for well over a decade, this is simply the correct call here.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Finnish counterpart Alexander Stubb will meet on Thursday at the White House to sign a pact for the U.S. Coast Guard to buy up to four icebreaker ships from Finnish shipyards, the White House and Stubb said.

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A White House official earlier said Trump would sign a memorandum of understanding with Finland to build four “Arctic security cutters” at shipyards in Finland, calling the plan a national security necessity to permit foreign construction.

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The 11 Arctic security cutters - new medium icebreakers to be used by the U.S. Coast Guard - are expected to cost about $6.1 billion, the official said.

Three of the ships will be built by Davie in Galveston, Texas, and four will be built by Bollinger Shipyards in Houma, Louisiana, the official said.

The aim is for the first icebreaker to be delivered by 2028. The official said the deals would result in billions of dollars of new investment in the U.S. maritime industrial base and add thousands of skilled trades jobs for Americans.

The Coast Guard’s operational polar fleet currently includes only two operational Arctic security cutters, the official said.

Here’s an overview of the design.

My primary critique here is that they are poorly armed. They need to be at least wired for SeaRAM and at least four ASCM. That 25mm should be 57mm or 76mm.

I have no idea if that is even possible in this design. I’ll let the engineers tell me.

Make no mistake, the Russian and Chinese Arctic ships in the case of war will come out shooting—and are armed to do so.

I would hope this flush of icebreakers will cause a fresh look at opening up a base at Nome, AK, as we have been calling for over the last decade.

If you tilted your head a bit at what Davie has planned, there’s great summary over at gCaptain.

The American Icebreaker Factory is being developed in collaboration with Pearlson, a Florida-based leader in shipyard design and program management, whose portfolio includes work for BAE Systems, Austal USA, and Fincantieri Marinette. The initiative aligns with current U.S. administration priorities, including the executive order on Restoring American Maritime Dominance and the recently-reintroduced SHIPS for America Act.

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Once contracts are secured, Davie Defense anticipates supporting over 2,000 direct jobs at Gulf Copper and more than 7,000 statewide, with a total projected economic impact exceeding $9 billion, according to an independent study by Impact Data Source.

Davie has viewed establishing local shipbuilding capacity as critical to securing the Arctic Security Cutter contract as it competes with a newly established consortium lead by Louisiana-based Bollinger Shipyards. Bollinger recently joined forces with Rauma Shipyards of Finland, Seaspan Shipyards of Canada, and Aker Arctic Technology Inc. to form a strategic partnership aimed at building the next generation icebreaker.

The urgency of the project is underscored by the current shortfall in U.S. polar icebreaking capacity compared to adversaries like Russia and China. The U.S. currently operates just three polar icebreakers, with the flagship Polar Security Cutter still undelivered. In contrast, Russia has a fleet of over 40 polar icebreakers, and China is rapidly expanding its own fleet.

This should be a low-risk program. Keep your fingers crossed and remember, Peter Rybski’s Substack is your one-stop shop for this program. Subscribe to keep up.