The United States has taken another important step toward strengthening deterrence in the strategically vital Arctic region.
The U.S. Coast Guard recently awarded contracts to shipbuilders both home and abroad to build up to six medium icebreakers called Arctic Security Cutters (ASC). The contracts were awarded in January 2026 to Rauma Marine Constructions of Finland and Bollinger Shipyards in Louisiana, according to a service news release. The contracts come as production of the first of the service’s new large icebreakers, called Polar Security Cutters (PSC), is underway. The larger icebreakers, unlike the ASCs, are designed for both Arctic and Antarctic operations.
“These awards represent decisive action to guarantee American security in the Arctic,” Adm. Kevin Lunday, the newly confirmed commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, said in the news release. “The Arctic Security Cutters will deliver the essential capability to uphold U.S. sovereignty against adversaries’ aggressive economic and military actions in the Arctic. These cutters will ensure the Coast Guard’s ability to control, secure and defend our northern border and maritime approaches — without question.”
The U.S. Coast Guard’s ability to carry out that mission has grown more challenging. Russian and Chinese maritime activity is rapidly increasing in the region. The Arctic’s melting sea ice is opening new shipping lanes as well as access to vast undersea deposits of minerals, oil and natural gas. The U.S. Navy sends submarines under the Arctic ice, but it doesn’t operate icebreakers, which is the Coast Guard’s mission.
“With lines being drawn and a lot of different contested [undersea Arctic] land claims, it’s — I wouldn’t say the wild, wild West, but maybe the wild, wild North,” U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Jeff Rasnake, commanding officer of the USCGC Polar Star, told the Alaska Beacon newspaper in November 2025.
The operational U.S. open-ocean icebreaking fleet consists of three ships: the heavy icebreaker USCGC Polar Star and medium vessels the USCGC Healy and the recently commissioned USCGC Storis. The federal budget reconciliation bill passed in 2025 included nearly $9 billion for Coast Guard cutters including medium and heavy icebreakers.
The contract with Rauma Marine Constructions includes building up to two ASCs in Finland, with delivery of the first vessel expected in 2028. The contract with Bollinger Shipyards includes up to four ASCs to be built in the United States, with delivery of its first cutter expected in 2029, according to the news release. The delivery of the first PSC, to be called Polar Sentinel, is expected in 2030.
The ASC project is the result of the ICE Pact framework signed in 2024 by Canada, Finland and the U.S. to accelerate icebreaker construction. Together with the ongoing heavy icebreaker program, ASC will provide the Coast Guard with a layered icebreaking fleet capable of year-round operations, according to a Bollinger news release.
Those operations are crucial as the Arctic becomes the focus of strategic competition.
“The ability to be present guarantees your ability to maintain sovereignty. And that’s what we’re trying to get at here in the Arctic,” USCGC Storis Capt. Corey Kerns told the Beacon newspaper. “We need more icebreakers to be present in our waters and be clear what is our waters.”
Sentry is a publication of U.S. Strategic Command.