Kongsberg Maritime has secured a contract with Austal USA to supply its Promas propulsion system to four vessels in the U.S. Coast Guard's Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) program, the Norwegian maritime technology company announced Wednesday.
The deal covers four shipsets of the Promas system, which integrates a controllable pitch propeller and rudder into a single unit to improve hydrodynamic efficiency. In addition to the twin Promas installations, Kongsberg Maritime will supply steering gear, rudders, fin stabilizers, and tunnel thrusters for each vessel, the company said.
The OPC program is one of the Coast Guard's most significant recapitalization efforts in recent decades. The new Heritage-class cutters are intended to replace the service's aging fleet of medium endurance cutters and are designed for sustained offshore operations. The program calls for up to 25 ships in total.
Each OPC will be 360'x54' with a displacement of 3,700 long tons, a top speed of 22.2 knots, and an endurance range of 9,050 nautical miles at 14 knots.
The ships each feature a pair of 9,763-hp Fairbanks Morse diesel engines, two 456-hp DRS hybrid drives, and four 940-eKW MTU gensets.
Kongsberg Maritime CEO Lisa Edvardsen Haugan said, "We're delighted to have been selected to supply four shipsets of our efficient and effective propulsion system suited to the challenging and varied operations of these new ships."
Haugan cited the efficiency advantages of the Promas system as particularly relevant for the Coast Guard's long-range patrol missions. "Our Promas systems typically deliver efficiency savings of around 6%, so vessels are able to extend their range, something which can be crucial on longer missions," she said.
Austal USA, headquartered in Mobile, Ala., is the prime contractor for the OPC program. The Coast Guard awarded Austal the initial construction contract in 2021, and the Heritage class has been under active development since.
