The US Department of Homeland Security is creating a unified aviation modernisation strategy that is expected to draw heavily on the Deepwater re-equipment programme for the US Coast Guard.
The goal is to unite the fleet replacement strategies for three domestic security agencies - the Coast Guard, the US Border Patrol and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). "We have about 72 different types of aircraft in the Department of Homeland Security, out of somewhere in the neighbourhood of 258 or so aircraft total," says Charles Stallworth, head of the ICE office of air and marine operations, which manages about 130 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
All three agencies have extensive modernisation plans, including the $16 billion Deepwater programme and ICE's proposed Clear Skies. The border patrol, meanwhile, is now seeking bids for 20 light observation helicopters to replace its MD Helicopters OH-6s.
ICE, meanwhile, is likely to tap existing Coast Guard contracts. The customs agency is considering the AgustaWestland A109E Power helicopter to replace its Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks. The coast guard's maritime patrol aircraft - shared between the Lockheed Martin C-130J and the EADS Casa CN-235 - are candidates to replace ICE's Lockheed Martin P-3 Orions.
Source: Flight International
