Overview

• The agreement covers 11 Arctic Security Cutters: four to be built in Finland and seven to be constructed in U.S. shipyards using Finnish expertise.
• The White House set a goal for the first cutter to be delivered in 2028, with commercial contracts, workshare, and activation timelines still to be finalized.
• Davie’s Galveston, Texas, yard is slated for three U.S.-built ships and Bollinger’s Houma, Louisiana, yard for four, according to U.S. officials.
• Officials cast the expansion as a national security move to bolster U.S. presence in the Arctic against Russian and Chinese activity, projecting billions in investment and thousands of skilled jobs.
• Finland, which designs roughly 80% of the world’s icebreakers and builds about 60%, will transfer know-how to help on-shore U.S. capacity for the Coast Guard’s growing polar missions.