Coast Guard Equipment

The United States Coast Guard is the coastal defense, search and rescue, and maritime law enforcement branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is a maritime, military, multi-missions service unique among the U.S. military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission as well as jurisdiction in domestic and international waters alike. Also among the Coast Guard duties are federal regulatory missions. During peacetime, the Coast Guard operates under the Department of Homeland of Security, and the Department of the Navy during wartime. The Coast Guard’s equipment consists of cutters and other small boats on the water, and fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters in the air. Additionally, the Coast Guard employs a variety of small arms such as handguns, shotguns, rifles, and machine guns.

The Coast Guard uses the term cutter for any vessel of more than 65 feet in length that has a permanently assigned crew and accommodations for the extended support of that crew. Large cutters (any over 181 feet in length) are controlled by Area Command (Atlantic or Pacific). Smaller cutters are controlled by district commands. Most cutters carry a motor surf boat and/or an inflatable boat. Polar-class icebreakers, ships specially designed to navigate through ice-covered waters, can sometimes carry arctic survey boats and landing craft. In the Coast Guard, a boat is considered any vessel less than 65 feet in length, and those that generally operate near shore and on inland waterways. The Coast Guard inventory comprises more than 1,400 boats.

The Coast Guard operated more than 200 aircraft, both fixed- and rotary-wing. The fixed-wing aircraft operate from air stations on long-duration missions, while helicopters can operate from air stations, air facilities, and flight-deck equipped cutters. The Coast Guard helicopter fleet is also used to rescue people or intercept smuggling vessels. The Coast Guard aircraft inventory includes the Lockheed HC-130 Hercules, Sikorsky MH-60T Jayhawk, Airbus MH-65 Dolphin, CASA HC-144A Ocean Sentry, and more. Some aircraft are armed with guns and some are equipped with armor to resist small arms fire. While the Coast Guard operates primarily in sea and air, their equipment also includes two land vehicles: the HMMWV Humvee, and LSSV utility vehicle.

The Coast Guard’s inventory of small arms includes pistols, assault rifles, shotguns, machine guns, precision rifles, and grenade-based weapons. The standard issue weapons are the P229R-DAK pistol and the M4 or Mk18 carbine assault rifles. The other weapons in the Coast Guard inventory are either vehicle-mounted or used only in special operations.