Heritage-class cutter

The Heritage-class cutter, also known as the Offshore Patrol Cutter and the Maritime Security Cutter, Medium, was one design among several new cutter designs developed as part of the United States Coast Guard Integrated Deepwater System Program.

Mission
The Heritage-class cutters will perform various Coast Guard missions which include but are not limited to PWCS (Ports, Waterways, and Coastal Security), Defense Operations, Maritime Law Enforcement (Drug/migrant interdiction and other Law Enforcement), Search and Rescue, Marine Safety, and environment protection. For Defense Operations the WMSM will meet a range of roles from Theater Security Cooperation to deploying with an Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) or supporting a combatant commander in various ways. The cutters will also support Arctic operations.

Design
The Heritage-class cutters are the newest class of cutter in the USCG, they will bridge the capabilities of the Legend Class cutters and the Sentinel-class cutters. The cutters will be built to all of the American Bureau of Shipping Naval Vessel Rules. The cutters will have the ability to install additional equipment (Armament) and systems to augment its capabilities if it is required to conduct operations in higher threat environments in support of national security objectives or other missions. The cutters construction will provide combat survivability against various threats, including combatant type compartmentalization, uninterruptible power supply to vital combat and damage control systems and sensors, and ballistic materials over critical areas for protection against small caliber weapons and shrapnel. The cutters has increased interoperability with other USCG and DoD assets, this allows the cutter to have increased communications and similar systems with other combatants, such as the Mk 110 and the Mk 38 are both weapons used in the Navy and the Coast Guard, this makes sure the OPC has the required interoperability to execute naval warfare tasks with the US Navy.

Combat suite
The Saab Sea Giraffe AN/SPS-77 multi-mode medium range naval radar system provides three-dimensional air and surface search functions. The multi-mode naval radar also provides Gun Weapon System cueing and supports the cutters self defense and limited air defense capability. The cutters are also equipped with the AN/SLQ-32 Electronic Warfare (EW) system used in the DDG-51 and Legend class. The Heritage-class cutters are equipped with the same 220 rpm Bofors 57 mm gun as mounted on the USN's Littoral combat ships and the USCG's Legend class cutters. The Missile Defense duties are handled by the MK 53 decoy systems also used on the Legend class cutters. The Heritage class cutters weapon and defense systems provide Anti-Surface capability, limited Air-Defense Capability, and the capability to provide naval gunfire support. The cutters .50 caliber mounts and Mk 38/Mk 110 combination also gives the cutter protection against fast attack craft. The WMSM will have the capability and equipment to escape from a CBRNE and/or TIC contaminated environment.

History
The cutter was originally proposed to replace aging medium endurance cutters with more capable and technologically advanced cutters as apart of the Integrated Deepwater System Program. By 2010 and 2011 some commentators speculated that the entire program was vulnerable to cancellation on budgetary grounds, because of the long delay in finalizing a preliminary design.

However, a bill passed by the United States Congress on November 15, 2011, imposed conditions on the Coast Guard's capital expenditures, that revolved around the design of the Offshore Patrol Cutter, granting greater certainty to the project.

By December 2011 plans for the cutter started to become more concrete. Plans to include a stern launching ramp, as on the National Security Cutters and the Fast Response Cutters, had been eliminated on budgetary grounds.

In February 2014, the USCG announced that Bollinger Shipyards, Eastern Shipbuilding, and General Dynamics Bath Iron Works had been awarded design contracts for the OPC. The Government Accountability Office denied contract appeals by VT Halter Marine and Ingalls Shipbuilding.

In September 2016, Eastern Shipbuilding of Panama City, Florida, was awarded a $110.3 million contract to build the first Offshore Patrol Cutter with an option to purchase eight additional cutters. On October 15, 2016 the Coast Guard issued a notice to proceed with the detailed design of the Offshore Patrol Cutter to Eastern Shipbuilding.

The first Offshore Patrol Cutter is expected to be delivered in Fiscal Year 2021. In total, the 25-ship deal could be worth up to $10.5 billion. On July 21, 2017, Eastern Shipbuilding completed its Initial Critical Design Review for the Offshore Patrol Cutter. This leads to the Final Critical Design Review for the Offshore Patrol Cutter.

On August 3, 2017, it was announced that the OPC's will be named "Heritage-class" and the first 11 OPC's were named. The Heritage class OPC's are named after cutters that played a significant role in the Coast Guard's history.

On September 7, 2017, it was announced the USCG exercised a fixed-price option to procure long lead time materials for the first Heritage class cutter. The total value is $41.68 million, this covers various materials and parts needed for the engines, switchboards and generators, steering and propeller components, and control systems. This also includes meeting Coast Guard requirements, and meeting all American Bureau of Shipping Naval Vessel Rules and is the first US Coast Guard cutter ever constructed to meet these very specific requirements. The construction of the first cutter, USCGC Argus (WMSM-915), is planned to begin in the late summer of 2018, and be delivered in August 2021.