FAIRFAX, Va. - The U.S. Coast Guard awarded General Dynamics the Alaska Phase 2 contract to update the communications equipment and physical infrastructure for the Rescue 21 Alaska system. General Dynamics will provide a comprehensive analysis to identify the most cost-effective path to update the existing radio equipment operating in the 30 locations for Rescue 21 Alaska. The contract also provides for the evaluation of the radio and communications towers and buildings at each site. The contract is valued at approximately $10 million with all options exercised.
“Working side by side with the Coast Guard, the General Dynamics team will take advantage of the most innovative technologies, combined with a strategic implementation plan to ensure the long-term effectiveness of this life-saving system,” said Vice President and General Manager Bill Weiss who leads public safety initiatives for General Dynamics Mission Systems. “Rescue 21 Alaska operates in one of the most unpredictable maritime environments in the world, and being the prime contractor for the Rescue 21 Coastal System, we have an unparalleled depth of understanding of the system and the urgency of the U.S. Coast Guard’s maritime search and rescue mission.”
The analysis will include radios with various roles, including those that provide digital selective calling, the radio technology that mariners use in an emergency. Once upgraded, the radios will deliver improved clarity for voice calls as well as better use of the radio spectrum for more reliable and efficient communications. General Dynamics will also perform site surveys and tower structural analysis studies, produce engineering site design drawings and installation plans for radio equipment, as well as perform system operational verification testing.
The 30 sites for Rescue 21 Alaska are located along the state’s coastline and the Aleutian Islands. Many of the Rescue 21 Alaska sites are in remote and isolated locations where work crews will need to be transported by helicopter.
General Dynamics originally developed and installed the Rescue 21 coastal system that comprises more than 215,000 square nautical miles of the nation’s eastern, western and Gulf coastlines (excluding Alaska), and around Guam and Puerto Rico. The Rescue 21 coastal system also keeps watch over public and commercial mariners navigating national waterways and the Great Lakes. Rescue 21 has enabled more than 80,000 search and rescue cases since the first Rescue 21 station became operational in 2003.
General Dynamics also maintains the Rescue 21 system’s hardware, software and facilities located in 32 Coast Guard sectors. Among the improvements are cyber-defense technologies that ‘harden’ the nationwide system from malware, viruses and other cyber threats.
This contract was awarded to General Dynamics One Source, a joint venture of three General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) companies: General Dynamics Information Technology, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, and General Dynamics C4 Systems. On January 1, 2015, General Dynamics combined the resources of Advanced Information Systems and C4 Systems as “General Dynamics Mission Systems.”
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