Rescue-21 Program Review and Update

A couple of comments on an earlier modernization blog reminded me to post this follow up on the Rescue 21 program:

Last week, along with RADM Wayne Justice and RDML Ron Rabago, I received the annual program review of Rescue 21 and I am pleased to announce that things are going well with the fielding of this critical system.

Here are a few of the program?s highlights from 2008:

- 11 new sectors operating on Rescue 21 (bringing the total to 18). This brings the total coastline covered by Rescue 21 to 24,758 miles.

- Rescue 21 was used in more than 4,000 rescue cases.

- Met or exceeded all system availability requirements (which means being available greater than 99.5% of the time.)

- Support to Sector New Orleans for Hurricane Gustav. This included relocating the Sector Watch to OSC Martinsburg, WV and deploying Satellite back-up systems to set up a network bridge to restore the system pending permanent repairs.

This meeting underscored two significant aspects of this program. First, the capability provided to our field commanders through Rescue 21 is savings lives and can't be delivered soon enough. Second, through teamwork and collaboration General Dynamics and the Coast Guard have established a solid technical baseline for this project. As we move forward our goal is to be flexible and adaptable as we deploy these systems in a variety of operating environments to meet the needs of our field commanders and the public we serve. The system is scheduled to be fully deployed along the coasts of the lower 48 and the Great Lakes by 2012.