Independent U.S. Sen. Angus King of Maine says the Coast Guard will announce which yard gets to build a new class of Coast Guard cutters this month, before the end of the federal budget year.
“BIW, from talking to the people there, put in a very aggressive bid,” he says. “They really worked hard to be competitive on this bid.”
Bath Iron Works is competing with shipyards in Louisiana and Florida for a contract to build up to 25 new cutters over several years at a total cost of over $10 billion.
King says the contract could mean additional jobs for the yard.
“It’s a big contract. It would provide some long-term stability added to the Navy destroyers that they build so well,” King says.
The cutters will replace the Coast Guard’s aging fleet, with some 50-year-old vessels.
