WASHINGTON, March 22 (UPI) -- Electronics upgrades made under the controversial U.S. Coast Guard Deepwater program are being credited with a sizable role in a record cocaine seizure.
Integrated Coast Guard Systems said Thursday that the cutters Hamilton and Sherman were both carrying electronic command, control and surveillance systems installed under Deepwater, which assisted in the interception of a Panamanian freighter carrying 42,000 pounds of cocaine off the coast of Panama.
"We are proud to see another example of Deepwater capabilities being successfully proven in the field," beamed the company's President Leo Mackay. "The system was designed to improve Coast Guard and inter-agency coordination - and that's just what has happened."
About the time Washington was taking a mulligan on the contract for a new class of cutters for Deepwater, the Hamilton and Sherman were dogging the Panamanian-flagged Gutan with the assistance of electronic upgrades made to medium and high-endurance cutters. The operation nabbed about $300 million worth of cocaine and was the largest maritime seizure by the Coast Guard.
The upgrades connect cutters to a secure satellite-based data and imagery transmissions as well as communications with law enforcement agencies on land.
Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen indicated to reporters that the cutters needed all the help they could get since the 40-year-old Sherman had engine problems that allowed it proceed using only one of its two propellers during the boarding.
