Coast Guard Procurement of Medium Range Surveillance Aircraft

A review of the Coast Guard's procurement program for medium range surveillance (MRS) aircraft covered mission requirements, specifications for procurement established by the Coast Guard in its request for proposals, and the Coast Guard's decision to limit its procurement to a single type of aircraft.

The missions to be accomplished by the new aircraft are similar to missions that have been performed by aircraft now in the Coast Guard inventory. These missions include: search and rescue operations, marine environmental protection operations, enforcement of laws and treaties by conducting surveillance patrols, marine scientific activities including tracking and icebergs, and miscellaneous missions such as port safety and security patrols and searches. Procurement of a single type of aircraft to perform missions is preferable because training of personnel, repair parts requirements, and maintenance programs are accomplished more efficiently and economically for one type rather than for two or more types of aircraft. Also, the use of several different types of aircraft would mean that some would not have a full multimission capability. A detailed technical specification contained requirements for the MRS aircraft including a requirement that the cabin/cockpit volume be at least 600 cubic feet. The requirement for a minimum cabin volume of 600 cubic feet appeared to be reasonable. (Author/HTW)