In the United States, the Department of Homeland Security and the Coast Guard decided to proceed with the cancellation of the order for the eleventh Legend-class cutter, the USCGC Friedman, to reallocate resources for the modernization of the Naval Force.
The cancellation of the future USCGC Friedman should allow savings of up to 260 million dollars, with already planned equipment intended to increase the operational readiness of the current cutters in service.
Initially, the USCG had planned to purchase eight Legend-class cutters as part of the National Security Cutter program but later, the United States Congress authorized the purchase of three additional units, allocating funds for a total potential of twelve ships by 2023, although the continuity of such programming now seems quite unlikely.
The hull sections and equipment for the ship have already been prepared at the Pascagoula yard in Mississippi, however, based on the cancellation of the order, they will no longer be used to assemble the Friedman cutter.
#### **Characteristics of Legend class cutters**
The Legends have a length of 127 meters, a width of 16 meters, a draft of 6.9 meters and displace 4600 tons.
These units reach a maximum speed of over 28 knots, a range of 12,000 nautical miles, can remain at sea for up to 75-90 days, and can accommodate up to 150 people, including crew members, other personnel or passengers.
The Legend class cutters are replacing the Hamilton class units with a wide range within USCG that have been in service since the 1960s.
#### **Rich electronic equipment**
The electronic equipment of the Legend-class cutters, based on EADS (Hensoldt) 3D TRS-16 AN/SPS-75 radar for air search, AN/SPS-79 for surface search, SPQ-9B for fire control, Furuno radar in S and X bands for navigation, is particularly complete and well cared for.
On board these cutters, true “light frigates”, are also installed an electronic warfare system AN/SLQ-32B(V)2 which operates with Mark 36 SRBOC and NULKA countermeasure systems, IFF systems, TACAN, MK 46 Mod 1 Optical Sighting System (on the first three units) or MK 20 Mod 0 Electro-Optical Sighting System, all integrated with the CMS Sea Commander.
#### **Armament**
The armament of the Legend-class cutters is also particularly sizable, consisting of a BAE Systems Bofors MK 110 57 mm cannon to engage naval, air, and land targets, a Phalanx Block 1B Baseline 2 20 mm CIWS, 4 heavy machine guns caliber 12.7 mm, 2 medium M240B machine guns 7.62 mm caliber.
Furthermore, the project envisages the possibility of integrating additional weapon systems depending on operational needs and the type of mission to be addressed.
Legend class cutters have a flight deck and hangar that are sized for the use of an MH-65 Dolphin helicopter and 2 rotorcraft type sUAS, as well as multi-role RHIBs. The crew is made up of 114 men, of which 14 are officers.
Photo Credit @USCG
