What is the Integrated Deepwater System Program?
A. The Integrated Deepwater System Program, often simply called “Deepwater” or “IDS,” is the largest and most innovative acquisition in the Coast Guard’s history. Deepwater is not just “new ships and aircraft,” but an integrated, performance-based approach to upgrading existing assets while transitioning to newer, more capable platforms, with improved systems for Command, Control, Communications and Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance (C4ISR) and innovative logistics support. It will replace and/or improve the capabilities of the Coast Guard’s current deepwater fleet ? providing the best mix of these assets to achieve the maximum operational effectiveness and minimizing total ownership cost. The Coast Guard’s current fleet of deepwater assets includes over 90 cutters and approximately 200 aircraft. These ships and aircraft are antiquated and technologically obsolete and require excessive maintenance. These assets perform missions both close to shore and far out to sea
