The United States Coast Guard will acquire its first new polar icebreakers in 35 years through a $6.1 billion partnership with Finland, formalizing contracts in late December 2025 that address America’s glaring disadvantage in Arctic waters where Russia operates 40 icebreakers to the US fleet of three aging vessels.
President Donald Trump and Finnish President Alexander Stubb announced the framework at the White House on October 9, 2025. The Coast Guard awarded the actual construction contracts on December 26, splitting production between Finnish shipyards and American manufacturers in Louisiana.
Finland will build up to two Arctic Security Cutters through Rauma Marine Constructions, delivering the first in 2028. Bollinger Shipyards landed a $2.14 billion contract for four vessels at its Houma, Louisiana facility, with deliveries starting in 2029. The agreement allows expansion to 11 total icebreakers as Arctic competition with Russia and China intensifies.
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Three Ships Against Forty
The Coast Guard currently operates USCGC Polar Star, a heavy icebreaker commissioned in 1976, alongside the medium icebreaker USCGC Healy from 1990 and the recently purchased commercial vessel USCGC Storis. That’s the entire American polar fleet.
Russia fields 40 icebreakers, including eight nuclear-powered heavy vessels capable of continuous Arctic operations. China operates five medium icebreakers and continues expanding its northern capabilities. Both nations view the Arctic as a strategic priority for shipping routes, mineral extraction, and military positioning.
Coast Guard internal assessments conclude the service needs at least nine Arctic Security Cutters for year-round mission coverage. The current fleet barely maintains access to both polar regions.
“We need these ships very badly because we have a lot of territory, more than anybody,” Trump said during the October announcement with Stubb.
What America Is Getting
Each Arctic Security Cutter measures 328 feet long, weighs 9,000 tons, and can plow through four feet of ice while moving at four knots. The vessels will sail 12,000 nautical miles without refueling and stay deployed for 60-plus days.
The design comes from Canada’s Seaspan Shipyards, developed with Finland’s Aker Arctic Technology specifically for polar missions. Canada is building 16 identical Multi-Purpose Icebreakers for its own Coast Guard, creating a shared North American fleet with common parts and training.
Core specifications:
- 7,200-kilowatt diesel-electric power plant
- 85-person crew capacity
- 3,000 tons of specialized ice-breaking steel per vessel
- Polar Class 4 rating for year-round Arctic service
- Approximately $500 million per ship
The cutters will handle national defense patrols, search and rescue operations, scientific research support, and enforcement of US sovereignty claims in contested Arctic waters.
Breaking the Shipbuilding Logjam
Trump invoked presidential authority to bypass the Jones Act, a 1920 law requiring federal vessels to be built in American shipyards. His December memorandum cited “national security interests” and called foreign construction a “temporary measure to bridge a critical capability gap.”
Congress had already cleared the legal path. A 2021 congressional report concluded icebreakers qualified for Jones Act exemptions, but previous administrations hesitated to test that interpretation.
The workaround allows rapid delivery while transferring Finnish expertise to American yards. Bollinger will build its four cutters using Finnish designs and engineering support from Aker Arctic, essentially creating an on-the-job training program for complex icebreaker construction that hasn’t happened in the US since 1990.
“We’re buying the finest icebreakers in the world, and Finland is known for making them,” Trump said. Finland designs 80% of existing global icebreakers and constructs 60% of them.
The ICE Pact Framework
This deal activates the ICE Pact, a July 2024 agreement between the United States, Canada, and Finland to share icebreaker designs, supply chains, and production capacity. The trilateral framework treats Arctic shipbuilding as a collective allied response rather than competing national programs.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem connected the contracts directly to Russian and Chinese Arctic expansion: “Our adversaries continue to look to grow their presence in the Arctic. Equipping the Coast Guard with Arctic Security Cutters will help reassert American maritime dominance there.”
Admiral Kevin Lunday, acting Coast Guard commandant, described the contracts as “decisive action to guarantee American security in the Arctic” against what he called “adversaries’ aggressive economic and military actions.”
The timing reflects genuine concern. Russia has militarized its Arctic coastline with new bases and air defense systems. China declared itself a “near-Arctic state” despite being 900 miles from the Arctic Circle and sends research vessels through northern waters with increasing frequency.
Golf Clubs and Geopolitics
The unlikely Trump-Stubb partnership began in March 2025 when Finland’s president showed up at Mar-a-Lago carrying golf clubs instead of policy papers. Stubb, who played on Finland’s national golf team, challenged Trump to 18 holes.
The 6-foot-3 Finnish leader’s approach worked. By October, the two presidents were announcing billion-dollar defense deals.
“I remember the first conversation we had, you know, you mentioned the fact that Russia has 40 and you need to start ramping this up,” Stubb told Trump during their October White House meeting. “And this is an indication that we’re going to do it and we’re going to do it together.”
Stubb was direct about Trump’s role: “The cooperation benefits both countries, Finland and the United States. The agreement would not have been possible without President Trump.”
Building Ships, Creating Jobs
Bollinger expects construction to generate more than 1,000 jobs at peak production. The company operates 13 facilities across Louisiana and Mississippi and has delivered 187 cutters to the Coast Guard over four decades.
Ben Bordelon, Bollinger’s CEO, called the Arctic Security Cutter “one of the most consequential and time-sensitive shipbuilding programs in U.S. Coast Guard history.” The company is simultaneously building Polar Security Cutters, the Coast Guard’s heavy icebreaker program, at its Pascagoula, Mississippi yard.
Rauma Marine Constructions CEO Mika Nieminen emphasized speed: “With a hot production line and our ice-class experience, we are ready to deliver the Arctic Security Cutters on an accelerated timeline in close cooperation with our U.S. partner.”
The first Finnish-built vessel enters service in 2028. The first American-built cutter follows in 2029. The Coast Guard hasn’t commissioned a new polar icebreaker since Healy arrived 35 years ago.
Catching Up in Cold Waters
The six contracted vessels represent the minimum viable Arctic presence. The framework allows expansion to 11 cutters as budgets permit and Arctic traffic increases. Climate change is extending the Arctic shipping season and opening previously inaccessible resource deposits, raising the stakes for nations claiming territorial rights and economic zones.
America spent decades discussing icebreaker needs while Russia built its fleet and China entered the Arctic game. This deal converts that discussion into steel, diesel engines, and ice-breaking bows. Whether six vessels become eleven depends on how seriously Washington takes the Arctic competition after the first cutters hit the water in 2028.
The Coast Guard finally has a construction timeline. Russia and China are already there.
