A helicopter crew from Air Station Sitka medevaced a Tenakee Springs man on Monday after he sustained serious injuries falling off a ladder.

In an interview with KCAW, Air Station Sitka representative Herald Pereira said that the man was found in his cabin on Monday (3-16-26) after he fell off of a six foot ladder. Alaska State Troopers responded to the call. Pereira said the troopers reported the man was “dazed and confused” and it was unclear what had caused the fall. Troopers called for Coast Guard assistance around 1 p.m.  

After assessing weather conditions and gathering other necessary information, Air Station Sitka sent out a four-person helicopter crew to retrieve the man about an hour later.

In a follow-up interview with KCAW, Air Station Sitka Assistant Public Affairs Officer Chantz Black said that the man was discovered by a concerned neighbor, who guessed that he had been lying injured on the ground for roughly a day and a half. Black said that the helicopter crew arrived back at Sitka around 4:30pm Monday, and transferred the man to Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center for further treatment. 

WEB ONLY: Editor’s Note: This story was updated on 3-20-26 to include new information about the rescue, and clarify that a neighbor initially found the individual, rather than a trooper, according to more recent Coast Guard accounts.

Sitka Police Lt. Mike Hall said the department received a call shortly before 2 p.m. about a 48-year-old man who was standing on the outside rail of the bridge. Two police officers and an ambulance responded to the scene, and shut down the bridge six minutes later. Hall said responders tried to speak with the man, but he ignored them and jumped, falling 50 to 60 feet into the channel below. 

“Luckily, there was a boat that was in the area, and at two o’clock they were able to pick him up out of the water. So this happened pretty quickly,” Hall said.

The crew aboard the M/V Moon Shot brought him to the nearby fuel dock where he was transferred to an ambulance and taken to Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center. Hall said the man was conscious and breathing at the time. 

Hall said it was a quick, coordinated effort between police, EMS and the U.S. Coast Guard. He said he wants to thank the people on board the boat for stepping up.

“One of them was stripped down to his underwear ready to jump in the water if he had to to go swim after him, which is an incredible feat for humanity, for somebody to do that for their fellow citizen,” Hall said. “So really appreciate them jumping in and helping out when they did.”

Hall said police haven’t received an update on the man’s condition. 

Editor’s Note: This is a developing story and may be updated.

Sitka’s Municipal Administrator John Leach announced his intention to resign on Wednesday (10-29-25) after six years on the job. He will be leaving at the end of May of next year, hoping to give the city ample time for a smooth transition.

KCAW’s Hope McKenney sat down with Leach on Friday to discuss his time in the role and what’s next.

TRANSCRIPT:

LEACH: What brought me to Sitka was my days in the Coast Guard. I was actually stationed over at Air Station Sitka as the engineering officer from 2015 to 2018. I fell in love with the community. I loved everything about the place. I ended up getting orders to Washington, DC. I made a pretty difficult decision to leave my family here while I went off by myself to Washington, DC — it’s what they call a “geo-bachelor” tour. And with the intent to return to Sitka, I put in my retirement notice while I was at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, DC, and looking for a way to get back here and be in this community, this opportunity popped up, and I applied for the position and got it in late September of 2019, I think, was the official higher time. 

KCAW: So you announced this week that you’ll be stepping down from the position at the end of May of next year. Tell me a bit about that decision.

LEACH: Six years, or, I guess, about six-and-a-half years when this comes about next year, it’s a long time to be in a role with this level of intensity. I love the work. I absolutely love and value the people that I work with, but it can take a toll on you. And I never really had an opportunity to take a break, and I think I need that. I’m not leaving the community. I’m still here. I still want to help. I still want to volunteer. I plan on doing the things that I enjoy here in Sitka. That’s the reason why I moved back. But I think it’s just time to step aside a little bit and take a break and then see where else I can get involved after that.

KCAW: So in your six years, it’ll be six-and-a-half years by the time you leave, what are you most proud of during that time as municipal administrator?

LEACH: I think what I’m most proud of is putting systems in place that help us look further into the future. I think we make more calculated decisions now, whether that’s through our strategic planning or asset management. It’s about making good value decisions for what we’re going to do next, instead of just, you know, what’s the biggest fire right now and who’s the loudest person yelling? You know, we’re looking out for the long term interest of the city, and how things are going to happen 20 years from now. So just instilling that long term vision, I think, has been a big win.

KCAW: Can you talk about some of the challenges that you’ve seen over these six years?

LEACH: The biggest challenge, and it’s for everybody, not just me, it’s everybody that works at the city is, as I said, the high intensity, the big demands and the very limited resources. Local government is very personal for people, and you multiply that by a few times since you’re in this small island community. So because you’re making these decisions and doing work that is so personal to people, and then they’re the same people you’re connecting with, sometimes you have to make an unpopular decision and you take it personally if other people take it personally. You know, we really want to serve everybody, but you’re never going to make everybody happy. And that personal connection is really difficult to confront, I guess. 

KCAW: So you mentioned staying in the community. What’s next?

LEACH: Well, first and foremost, I’m going to take a break. I want to take a few months of not doing anything, reconnecting with my family. When I got out of the Coast Guard, I didn’t take that leave, that break before taking this job. It was out of the uniform one day, off the plane and stepping into this job the next day. So again, I’d like to reconnect with my family, recharge, and I’ve thought about some consulting work, seeing if I can help other municipalities, or even plug in here somehow through that work. But otherwise, the options, they’re open.

KCAW: Well, thank you. Is there anything else I should have asked you, or you’d like to share?

LEACH: I just want to emphasize that my decision to step down is not rooted in any frustration. I think Sitka is in a really strong position right now, and that’s because of the people who serve it every day. There’s a lot of good people in City Hall that are working on the citizens’ behalf here, and sometimes they go unrecognized. But I talked about local government being deeply personal. You know, these are the same folks that you go to school with, you go to church with, you’re sharing holidays together, and they’re here to serve you, and they work their tails off every day. So I want to thank them, and I want to just remind the folks of Sitka of that fact, that they’re here to work for you, and they also are your friends and neighbors.

Clean-up efforts concluded on Wednesday for a fuel spill in Sitka Sound. 

Hanson Marine removed around 1500 gallons of diesel and oily water from the Haida Lady’s fuel tanks and another nearly 300 gallons of oil from the water nearby. The Coast Guard contracted with the Sitka-based company to conduct clean-up efforts, after noticing a sheen around the sunken fishing vessel on Friday (Feb. 26).

The company also used lift bags and dewatering pumps to bring the submerged vessel to the surface and then tied it off to shore.

According to a Coast Guard press release, the Sitka’s Marine Safety Detachment will continue to monitor the vessel’s condition. Impacts to the environment are unknown at this time. According to the Coast Guard, no wildlife was observed within the worksite.

Winter cold snaps aren’t just causing frozen pipes and power outages in the lower 48. In Angoon, recent cold temperatures exacerbated ongoing issues with the town’s water supply. The Coast Guard stepped in to help by delivering bottled water to the community of around 450 people.

The troubles with Angoon’s water supply started on the morning of Feb. 3.

“We got a few calls about one of our main lines breaking and a pretty heavy river of water coming out of it,” said Mayor Joshua Bowen.

After a day’s worth of digging with jackhammers, torches and an excavator, the town’s water operators, Donald Johnson and Daniel Fredrickson Jr., found the culprit — a small pipe connected to a fire hydrant. They were able to bandage the pipe and stop the leak. But not before the town had lost a lot of water.

They’d also just completed some routine maintenance that meant the system wasn’t at full capacity. Then, came a stretch of single digit temperatures.

“And lots of people’s lines were freezing and breaking, and we were just losing water left and right. So all of that combined was making it very difficult to rebuild the water supply,” Bowen said.

The town’s water pressure had grown so weak that Bowen worried about drinking water safety and reached out to the Department of Environmental Conservation to request a boil water notice, which was granted last Friday (2-12-21). And then came Saturday morning.

“We woke up and a third of the town had no water at all, whatsoever, coming out of their taps, mine included,” he said.

This time, another residential leak and a broken water pump were to blame.

“Overnight, of all times, it decided to die on us the motor did. Without flow going through there, it was susceptible to freeze which it did. Froze and broke,” Bowen said.

They quickly got to work repairing the pump, but when Bowen got a call from the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska asking if the town needed potable water, he said yes.

“Next thing you know I’m getting a call saying that the Coast Guard is bringing us a bunch of water and I’m really blown away that was really fast,” Bowen said.

Jeannie Greene is the Captain of the Coast Guard Cutter Hickory, a 225-foot buoy tender homeported in Homer. They were on their way back from dropping buoys in Ketchikan when they got the call that Angoon needed water. 

“We don’t usually get to partake in missions that are of immediate life safety concern,” Greene said. “Even though I understand Angoon, they were going to do okay for a few days, it did feel urgent and man we loved getting to do it.”

When the ship pulled into the ferry terminal on Saturday evening, Bowen and members of Angoon’s Tribal government, the Angoon Community Association, helped distribute the nearly 7,000 bottles of water.

“I brought the forklift out there and lifted the pallets right into the trucks and they went straight from the ferry terminal to door to door and delivered a couple of cases of water to every household,” he said.

Bowen said the additional water helped relieve pressure on the town’s water system, so they could get it back up and running. Angoon is working with Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and other partners to upgrade its aging water and sewer lines to help prevent breakdowns in the future. 

The boil water notice remains in effect until they receive test results back from DEC, which Bowen anticipates later this week. 

Erin McKinstry is a Report for America corps member.

When the Coast Guard received a report from the Kake clinic of an overdue air ambulance, its nearest helicopters at Air Station Sitka were about 40 miles away.

Coast Guard Commander Michael Kahle said the air station maintains three MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters: one disassembled for parts, one as a backup; the third is the “ready bird” for rapid response.

“The goal that we should shoot for is, from the time of notification, 30 minutes to get off the deck,” Kahle said in a Monday interview. “And then two hours to be on scene, and that’s where our assets are positioned to enable that.”

But according to mission logs obtained by CoastAlaska under the Freedom of Information Act, the Sitka air station’s “ready bird” Jayhawk immediately ran into problems.

The logs indicate an engine contingency switch had malfunctioned — effectively grounding the helicopter overnight.

“So now we are looking for other aircraft to bring in,” Kahle, who was incident commander, recalled. “We reached out to the Air National Guard and they said, ‘Well, we can get aircraft probably in the morning time.’”

Mission logs obtained in a Feb. 1 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request reveal a string of mechanical breakdowns grounded the MH-60 Jayhawk helicopters at Air Station Sitka.

After crews in Sitka weren’t able to get their helicopters cleared for take off, a second Jayhawk was requested from the Coast Guard’s Air Station Kodiak — 600 miles away.

“That process ends up taking about, you know, through the evening,” Kahle said. “And at first light, they’re basically on scene with a new aircrew, aircraft and underway out on scene.”

That meant there was no aerial search over Frederick Sound for the first 12 hours.

On the water it was a different story. The Coast Guard had quickly alerted the Cutter Anacapa, which was already in the area, and local search and rescue teams also searched for signs of the missing plane overnight.

Air Station Sitka got its Jayhawk in the sky the following morning. After completing a single search, the logs indicate it ran into the same mechanical problem. Its crew refueled in Petersburg and returned to Sitka for more repairs.

The longest federal government shutdown in history had ended just a few days before. Kahle said the Coast Guard’s maintenance schedule had been affected. He confirmed parts of an article in The New York Times that stated dockside maintenance to ships in Sector Juneau were delayed.

But the commander said the mechanical breakdowns of its Sitka-based helicopters weren’t shutdown-related. He called them “a mechanical issue that happened at the wrong time.”

The Coast Guard acknowledges its aerial response was delayed that night. But Kahle said it didn’t impact the overall response.

“Certainly we work very hard to keep our aircraft in a posture — so that we can respond within the Coast Guard’s goal or ahead of the Coast Guard’s goals,” Kahle said. “And I think we do a good job overall of maintaining that readiness.”

Federal authorities still don’t know what caused the Beechcraft King Air 200 to plummet more than 2,500 feet in 14 seconds before vanishing from radar.

NTSB investigator Brice Banning examines the recovered flight recorder from the Guardian Flight plane that crashed Jan. 29 over Frederick Sound. (Photo courtesy of NTSB).

The cockpit’s voice recorder was recovered by searchers contracted by Guardian Flight.

But Clint Johnson, the National Transportation Safety Board’s regional chief in Anchorage, said it’s in poor condition.

“We’re not sure if it’s actually impact damage or if its water immersion damage,” Johnson said Monday. “However, not all is lost at this point. Right now, our engineers in our cockpit voice recorder lab are working very, very hard to try and recover that information.”

He added the lab should know whether the data is recoverable within the next week.

Most of the plane’s wreckage has since been recovered around 22 miles west of Kake. It’s now in a hangar in Juneau. Representatives from Raytheon and Pratt & Whitney which built the airframe and engines will be assisting NTSB investigators.

Johnson said it’ll likely be some time before the public gets any answers.

“It’ll probably be another probably six, eight months, at least before anything else is released,” he said.

Following the Coast Guard’s intensive three-day search, Guardian Flight spent two months looking for its lost aircraft and crew.

Last week the company announced it had wrapped up its search. The bodies of Juneau-based pilot Patrick Coyle, 63; paramedic Margaret Langston, 40 and nurse Stacie Rae Morse, 30, remain lost at sea.

Jaime Saladis passes boxes of donated food to Keith Nyitray of the Sitka Food Co-Op. The food will be available for pickup at the Sitka Sound Science Center on Monday (1/21/19) for furloughed federal employees (KCAW/ROSE)

27 days into the longest partial government shutdown in US history — and less than a week after missing their first paycheck — a group of Coast Guard spouses is organizing a “Federal Employee Pop-Up Pantry” to alleviate  financial stress on families affected by the furlough.

KCAW’s Katherine Rose met the group at the Sitka Sound Science Center while they unloaded donations to put in the historic Mill Building.

Downloadable Audio 

Nina Vizcarrondo is a Coast Guard veteran. Her husband Josh is a current member, and on January 15th, when he didn’t receive his paycheck, they had an unexpected family emergency.

“That same day, actually, my dog got a really, really bad seizure,” she said. “We thought he was going to die.”

It was after vet hours, and they knew there might be an extra fee for an emergency visit.

“We literally had to look at ourselves, Josh and I, and be like ‘Can we afford to take him in after hours?’ Because we didn’t get paid. So now we really are double-thinking everything.”

These are some of the decisions federal employees on furlough are beginning to grapple with as one missed paycheck looks like it could shortly turn into two. And it’s not just emergency costs they’re debating. Vizcarrondo has two children, one a newborn. And they’ve been waiting to get his birth certificate from the hospital.  She says two months ago she might not have worried about the cost, but today she notices.

“There’s sixty bucks today. It just piles on.”

Jaime Saladis’s husband has been in the Coast Guard for nearly 20 years. They’ve spent the last four in Sitka. She says the impact of the shutdown, up to this point, has been a slow burn.

“I think it’s slowly trickling down. The feelings are starting to come up. Like, ‘Oh, there’s another day. Oh. You wake up, you check the news. It’s still happening, things are getting more serious,” she said. “So it’s led up to this point where we need to actually do something.”

So Saladis and Vizcarrondo are doing something. They’re working with Alex Thorne of the Sitka Sound Science Center to organize a ‘Federal Employee Pop Up Pantry.’ Thorne is the Business Development and Whalefest Director for the center. While she knows items from a pantry can only go so far, she’s hoping they can free up a little money people can redirect toward bigger bills.

“If we’re able to take some of the everyday necessities off that are quite expensive. Toilet paper, paper towels, diapers, formula. If we can assist to take those off, that money can be allocated towards your utilities or your rent,” Thorne said. “I know it’s not a huge thing but hopefully it’s something that adds to easing stress for people.”

So far Sitka Bottling Company and the Sitka Food Co-Op have donated drinks and chips, baby food, and granola and pasta, but organizers are hoping for more. Coordinating the effort hits close to home for Thorne- her husband is in the Coast Guard too. And she’s thinking about younger federal employees who may not have as many resources.

“For me and my husband, had something like this happened 10 years ago to us, it would have been a devastating problem,” Thorne said. “It would have been going to parents, saying ‘Hey can you help me out or can you float me for a little bit, or an additional job. We’re down the ways a bit now, so there are other things in place, but we also don’t have children and things like that.”

Vizcarrondo says there are some families in Sitka who are trying to figure out next steps if the shutdown continues. She hopes the pop-up pantry can provide a small cushion for them.

“They’re concerned. They’re having conversations with their spouses and their families that you wouldn’t have had before,” she said. “Do we get a second job? Things we wouldn’t have considered before. It’s taking a hard toll emotionally.”

Saladis says they’re hoping the pop-up pantry can be a neutral, welcoming space for people who may feel uncomfortable asking for help.

“People have pride. I’m prideful. I don’t want to ask for help. I don’t want to knock on somebody’s door. I’m the person who’s gonna help, and that’s what we’re trying to do here,” she said. “That’s hopefully going to encourage people to come out and help us and feel comfortable taking a bag of groceries. Come back tomorrow if you need more.”  

In the meantime, the deadlock over funding for a border wall with Mexico doesn’t appear close to resolution. Alaska’s senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan have signed on as co-sponsors of legislation that — if passed — would protect the Coast Guard from future shutdowns. Nevertheless, the question for Sitka’s Coast Guard personnel remains how to get through this one.  

If you would like to donate to the ‘Federal Employee Pop-Up Pantry,’ you can bring toiletries and non-perishables to the Sitka Sound Science Center this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. If they receive enough donations, organizers will open the pantry to all furloughed federal employees Monday afternoon from 3-7 p.m.

Click here for a list of services, discounts and deferred payments provided to federal employees in Sitka during the government shutdown. 

An experimental plane crashed in the vicinity of Crillon Lake on Wednesday (07-18-18) when one of its engine seized. The pilot swam ashore with his dry bag, built a fire, and was rescued by the Coast Guard. (Photo provided by the U.S.C.G.)

A pilot was rescued from the shores of Crillon Lake in Glacier Bay National Park on Wednesday afternoon (07-18-18), after his plane crashed due to engine failure.

The Sitka Sentinel reports the survivor is 38-year-old Alec Wildenstein of Nanyuki, Kenya. Another pilot, Alexis Pelter, witnessed the crash from another plane and flew to Yakutat to report it.  

The Coast Guard was then alerted to the incident by the Anchorage Rescue Coordination Center, reporting an experimental aircraft in Crillon Lake. Sector Juneau Command Center launched a Jayhawk helicopter crew from Air Station Sitka to search for the pilot.

After crashing, Wildenstein swam to the Crillon Lake shore with minimal injuries. He had a survival bag that contained dry clothes and the material to start a fire. After he was found, Wildenstein was hoisted by the helicopter crew through a cutout in the trees and taken back to Sitka.

A press release from the Coast Guard on Thursday (07-19-18) attributes the crash to an in-flight engine seizure, forcing Wildenstein to land the plane in the water. It flipped approximately 10 to 20 yards from the shore.

Petty Officer Mark Newkirk commended Wildenstein for his preparedness. “He set himself up for success by having a plan and being prepared for the situation with the extra clothing, bear spray, shelter, and a fire, which allowed us to safely locate and transport him to safety.”

Weather on-scene was 12-mph winds and an air temperature of 61 degrees.

The plane crash survivor, Alec Wildenstein, and crew of the MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter arrive in Sitka after a successful rescue. From left are Lt. Cmdr. Joseph Plunkett, Lt. Douglas Eberly, flight mechanic Mark Newkirk, flight surgeon Cmdr. Kjersti Koskinen, Wildenstein and rescue swimmer Tyler Sojka. (Photo provided by the U.S.C.G.)

A 61-year-old woman was medevacked by an Air Station Sitka crew yesterday (05-30-18), lifted into a helicopter from a cruise ship.

Downloadable audio.

The audio cuts in and out, but the video recording is steady.

Below is the deck of the cruise ship Celebrity Solstice near Noyes Island, west of Craig. Above is an MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Sitka. The crew is hoisting an orange litter into the air with a patient inside. She was suffering symptoms of a heart attack.

Sounds from video: Litter is about halfway up. Litter is to the cabin.

On Wednesday, the captain of the Celebrity Solstice reported her condition to the Coast Guard Sector Juneau watchstanders. A flight surgeon for the 17th Coast Guard District recommended a medevac and the crew from Air Station Sitka was sent.

After the hoist, the woman was transported to Ketchikan where a Guardian Flight crew stood by to transport her to higher medical care.

In a statement, co-pilot Lt. Jason Maddux said, “Understanding the severity of the woman’s reported condition, we knew we had to get on scene as soon as possible and complete a safe hoist.”

Weather at the time of the hoist was 5-mph winds with 10 miles of visibility.

The U.S. Coast Guard says the new Fast Response Cutter vessels are capable of deploying independently to conduct missions, including coastal security, fishery patrols, search and rescue and national defense. (Photo from USCG/Defense Industry Daily)

On Wednesday (04-25-18), the U.S. Coast Guard announced that Sitka will be receiving one of six new Fast Response Cutters. The new boat will be capable of search and rescue and bring 25-30 Coast Guard families to town.

All of this is big news for Sitka’s economy, but the Coast Guard will have to address its housing shortage before they arrive. “It’s going to result in safer waters for Sitkans, more kids in our schools, and more infrastructure development. It’s fantastic news. I can’t wait for this boat to get here,” said Mayor Matthew Hunter.

Downloadable audio.

A few years ago, the Coast Guard began looking for ways to recapitalize it’s fleet. There was talk of downsizing and consolidating boats in just a few communities. Senator Dan Sullivan, who chairs the subcommittee that oversees the Coast Guard, didn’t like that. He, along with local mayors, pushed for a more robust presence across coastal Alaska.

Last week, Sullivan got what he wanted. In a letter, Coast Guard Commandment Admiral Paul F. Zukunkft announced that after completing a feasibility study and reaching out to local communities, USCG decided to spread six of the new Fast Response Cutters across four communities – Kodiak, Seward, Ketchikan, and Sitka. Two smaller patrol boats would be homeported in Petersburg and in Juneau.

“We think this is a big win for the state, for Southeast, and for all the communities that to be quite honest were concerned about losing Coast Guard cutters and assets,” Sullivan said to KCAW last week.

And it’s a big win for Sitka. While the rest of Southeast is getting their fast patrol boats replaced, Sitka is getting one for the very first time. The new generation of ships are 154-feet long (as opposed to 110-feet), with room for 15 crew members, and will expand the Coast Guard’s presence in Sitka significantly.

If you’re wondering, “Why did Sitka get chosen?,” just ask Mayor Matthew Hunter.

“Why does Sitka have an air station? Why do we have a buoy tender? And why did the navy choose Sitka during WWII as a location to put one of the three air stations? It’s on the outside of Southeast Alaska,” Hunter said. “It’s central in Southeast Alaska. It’s a perfect location for a Coast Guard presence because they can have access to open ocean or inside waters within a few hours of Sitka.”

Hunter began meeting with Coast Guard admirals on this issue years ago. In vetting which communities would get boats, the Coast Guard’s biggest concern about Sitka’s candidacy involved housing. Where would these new families leave? Current Coast Guard housing is often over-capacity and families often rent units in town.

Hunter said the Coast Guard will need to build additional housing, but that may require municipal help finding the land.

“I expressed my personal support. I felt the Assembly would probably support finding some municipal land somewhere to possibly make available to build additional housing if necessary,” Hunter said. There’s also state land on Japonski Island the Coast Guard could lease.

The Coast Guard has been appropriated $51.5 million in the FY18 government budget to fund housing and shore-side infrastructure projects to accommodate the new vessels and their crew.  A statement from Senator Lisa Murkowski’s office said that money “will support current and future Coast Guard assets in Alaska, such as these FRCs.” Murkowski is a member of the Homeland Securities Appropriations Committee and also advocated for Fast Response Cutter funding to be spread across Alaska.

Sitka was redesignated as a Coast Guard city in 2017. A fixture on the waterfront and in the skies, the Coast Guard operates Air Station Sitka and a buoy tender. The Cutter Maple sailed south for maintenance last year. Its replacement, the Cutter Kukui, will arrive this year with the same crew aboard.

As a public safety hub, Sitka is also home to the Alaska State Trooper Academy. Hunter hopes citizens embrace enhanced Coastie presence as well.

“I hope people don’t perceive it as a negative presence. I know down south where it’s almost all law enforcement, where they’re looking for drugs and stopping vessels all the time, that people don’t have the the love for the Coast Guard that Sitka does,” Hunter said.

The Fast Response Cutters are slated to arrive in 2023.