USCG winds down Arctic Shield 2014

The U.S. Coast Guard has concluded its Arctic Shield 2014 program, the agency announced on Oct. 31. The program is the latest of a series of annual operations that the Coast Guard conducts, primarily during the summer Arctic open water season, to ramp up the agency’s Arctic presence, engage with Arctic communities and conduct Arctic operational test exercises.

During the 2014 program the agency deployed four cutters to the Arctic Ocean, including the icebreaker, the Healy, and the Stratton, a national security cutter, the Coast Guard said. The Stratton, designed to remain under way for long periods of time, can act as a command-and-control platform for various missions, including maritime domain awareness; search and rescue; and law enforcement.

The Coast Guard deployed MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters to a forward operating base in Barrow. And, for the first time, a Jayhawk helicopter deployed to the Stratton in the Arctic Ocean, the Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard team executed several challenging search-and-rescue missions, including the rescue of the master of a sailing vessel caught in ice northeast of Barrow, and the medevac of a crew member from a Korean polar research vessel. The team also conducted 54 at-sea boardings and 36 safety inspections, the Coast Guard said.

A research team tested pollution response capabilities, including landing an unmanned aerial vehicle on a Coast Guard icebreaker for the first time - in August the agency announced that it was going to conduct an Arctic oil spill response exercise from the Healy, including the deployment of both unmanned aircraft and an autonomous underwater vehicle for collecting data and imagery, and for mapping the underside of the ice, where oil tends to collect.

- Alan Bailey