In name, it is a maritime law enforcement force, but it has participated in American overseas wars many times. In peacetime, it also flaunts its strengths everywhere in an attempt to serve as the "World Coast Guard"——
Coast Guard: Another important tool for U.S. hegemony
On November 23, local time, two patrol boats modified by the U.S. Coast Guard arrived in Odessa, Ukraine as weapons and equipment to aid the Ukrainian navy.
Prior to this, the United States also transferred the retired Hamilton-class patrol ships of the Coast Guard to the Philippines and Vietnam.
At the same time, the U.S. Coast Guard is accelerating its largest shipbuilding program since the end of World War II.
The so-called "new frontier" theory concocted by the American academic circles put forward the absurd claim that the United States should push the coastal defense line to the edge of the Eurasian continent to prevent the emergence of a large country that can dominate Europe or Asia and thus challenge the United States.
Under the guidance of the maritime hegemony strategy of "using the sea to control the land" and ensuring absolute security, the U.S. Coast Guard has built a force far beyond what is required for law enforcement. The Coast Guard has become an important tool for maintaining the hegemony of the United States.
"Enforcement" forces keen to disrupt the situation
The U.S. Coast Guard is one of the six major branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is under the management of the Department of Homeland Security on a daily basis and under the jurisdiction of the Navy during wartime to undertake combat missions.
Although it is a maritime law enforcement force in name, the US Coast Guard participated in two world wars, as well as the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the Afghanistan War, and the Iraq War. It is an important force for the United States to invade and maintain its hegemony.
The power far exceeds the needs of "enforcement".
The U.S. Coast Guard currently has more than 40,000 active military personnel, more than 30,000 reserve personnel and auxiliary personnel, more than 1,000 ships of various types, more than 200 helicopters, marine surveillance aircraft and several unmanned aerial vehicles.
The navy of its size and strength exceeds that of most countries. If it is listed separately in size and ranks the ninth largest naval aviation force and the tenth largest navy in the world, its combat capability has long exceeded the traditional law enforcement needs.
Since 2004, the U.S. Coast Guard has successively introduced a new ship procurement plan, preparing to purchase 8 Legend-class national security ships, 25 coastal patrol ships and 58 rapid response ships to replace the 90 old ships, and the actual construction The quantity may also exceed the plan.
Intervene frequently in hot issues.
In terms of geographic location, the US Coast Guard has two regional headquarters, which are responsible for the Pacific and Atlantic directions respectively; three overseas operations headquarters are set up in Japan, the Netherlands, and Bahrain, and their operations cover most of the world's marine transportation routes.
As the "beater" of the United States in safeguarding its hegemony, Coast Guard ships frequently appear in hot spots such as the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea.
According to official U.S. data, in 2019, the U.S. Coast Guard provided support to the Department of Defense for 326 days, compared with only 50 to 100 days per year in the previous five years.
In May of that year, when the situation in Venezuela was tense, the US Coast Guard patrol ship "James" was deployed to Venezuela's offshore waters for patrol and reconnaissance.
Intended for the frontier containment of "superpower competition"
In recent years, under the guidance of the so-called "superpower competition" concept, the United States has continuously increased its military containment and containment against China, Russia and other countries.
The U.S. Coast Guard has also continued to expand its scope of activities and increase its frontier deployment efforts.
Fight for dominance in the Arctic.
The Arctic has rich oil and gas resources and huge geopolitical value.
Since 2011, the U.S. Coast Guard has successively issued a number of Arctic strategic documents, clearly requesting the addition of ships, aircraft, and onshore infrastructure, actively participating in the competition for dominance in the Arctic, and at the same time strengthening the containment of Russia.
In 2015, the "U.S. Coast Guard Arctic Strategy Implementation Plan" put forward 13 actions and detailed plans to strengthen Arctic operations and drills.
In this context, the Coast Guard's budget for ice-breaking services in FY 2017 increased by 223.17% compared with FY 2014, surpassing the budget for marine environmental protection.
In February 2019, the U.S. Coast Guard received US$655 million to build a new class of heavy polar icebreaker-the first ship of the "Polar Security Defense Ship", and plans to build a new fleet consisting mainly of six polar icebreakers.
In August 2020, the US Coast Guard participated in the annual joint military exercise of "Operation Nanuk 2020" hosted by Canada in the Arctic for the first time.
Strengthen the deployment of the West Pacific.
With the implementation of the "Asia-Pacific Rebalancing Strategy" and the "Indo-Pacific Strategy", the Western Pacific Region has become a key focus of the Coast Guard.
In March 2015, the United States issued a new version of its maritime strategy, the 21st Century Maritime Power Cooperation Strategy, which proposed to strengthen the Indo-Pacific maritime partnership and clarify that the Coast Guard will intervene in regional affairs in the South China Sea in the name of law enforcement.
In March 2019, the US Coast Guard patrol ship "Berthoff" passed through the Taiwan Strait in a high-profile manner for the first time.
In May, the USS Berthoff and the Philippine Coast Guard ship conducted drills near our Huangyan Island; from July to September, the US Coast Guard patrol ship "Stratton" successively carried out operations with Indonesia, Malaysia and other ASEAN countries. Nanhai held a joint exercise.
In November 2020, the US Coast Guard announced that it would increase the deployment of ships and aircraft in the South China Sea on the grounds of "illegal fishing" and "disturbing the maritime order and rights of neighboring countries".
Expansion of coastal defense forces in the Indian Ocean direction.
The U.S. Coast Guard has a headquarters in Bahrain, under its jurisdiction a detachment of hundreds of people and a certain number of warships.
According to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Strategic Plan for 2018-2022, the Coast Guard will accelerate the transfer of forces to the Indian Ocean and the Middle East and establish an Indian Ocean patrol.
In the past few years, U.S. Coast Guard ships have conducted joint military exercises and maritime humanitarian rescue operations in the Indian Ocean with the armed forces of relevant countries.
Last year alone, the US Coast Guard seized 4 Iranian ships in the northern waters of the Indian Ocean.
The "cross-border" move to safeguard global hegemony
Under the "overall situation" of maintaining U.S. hegemony, the US Coast Guard has frequently "crossed the border" in recent years, making efforts in emerging fields such as cyberspace and space to improve corresponding capabilities.
Make up for the shortage of naval forces.
In recent years, the 7th Fleet of the US Navy has seen frequent ship collisions and fire incidents, resulting in a shortage of troops. Related rectification actions have also affected its short-term troop operations. Prior to this, there was an "aircraft carrier window period" due to assistance in the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. .
In order to make up for the shortage of the 7th Fleet, the U.S. Coast Guard frequently replaced the Navy in the Western Pacific and participated in so-called "freedom of navigation" operations.
The commander of the US Coast Guard Carl Schultz said that the United States' demand for a strong maritime police presence in the Pacific is becoming "unprecedentedly strong."
During the activities of the Coast Guard in the West Pacific, it was directly under the command of the 7th Fleet of the US Navy and coordinated with its naval vessels and air reconnaissance and surveillance forces.
In August of this year, the US Coast Guard National Security Ship "Monroe" and the Navy "Kid" crossed the Taiwan Strait together.
Prepare for cyberspace.
In order to cooperate with the U.S. cyber hegemony strategy, the U.S. Coast Guard has repeatedly emphasized the importance of cyber security to the construction of the U.S. maritime transportation system and infrastructure in related strategic documents in recent years.
In 2015, the U.S. Coast Guard issued the "U.S. Coast Guard's Conception of Operations in the Cyber Field" strategic document, which proposed tasks such as developing cyberspace combat forces, formulating cyber operations guidelines, and investing in the development of future cyber technologies.
In May 2020, the U.S. Coast Guard further proposed to use the network technology revolution to replace hardware equipment and update software systems to improve data management capabilities and expand the strength of the "net army" to better respond to cyber security threats.
In 2020, the U.S. Coast Guard will have 360 cyber personnel, and plans to increase it by 179 in the future.
The tentacles stretch out into space.
The United States has publicly established the "National Space Security Strategy" to step up the construction of space forces and space weapons and equipment, and actively prepare for space warfare.
In response to this, the US Coast Guard has also listed space as its key development area.
In December 2018, the US Coast Guard launched the "Polar Scout" satellite system in cooperation with the Space Exploration Technology Corporation in the name of solving communication problems in the Arctic region, monitoring large-scale illegal activities, and helping to find missing persons at sea.
The U.S. Coast Guard also plans to further strengthen the construction of space forces, establish a specialized agency focused on space, and rely on commercial space services to seek more and cheaper “polar scouts” projects. Various space-based systems can assist in the completion of seas. Tasks such as law enforcement, search and rescue, and management.
In addition, it also cooperates with the US Space Force to assist it in fulfilling its duties and apply its maritime rescue and search experience to the space field.
(Author's unit: Academy of Military Sciences)