US Coast Guard’s New Icebreaker ‘Aiviq’: A Capable Addition to Arctic Operations or a Flawed Stopgap Solution?

By Malte Humpert (gCaptain) – The U.S. Coast Guard’s newest acquisition, the icebreaker Aiviq, is being readied to supplement the service’s two aging polar-capable vessels. During its short commercial service life it was described as the world’s most powerful offshore supply and anchor handling icebreaking vessel. 

But can it become an effective tool increasing U.S. presence in the Arctic countering Russian and Chinese influence? How does Aiviq stack up to the USCG’s medium polar icebreaker Healy?

“It’s an icebreaker on one hand and it isn’t one on the other, due to its offshore industry role,” one industry insider told gCaptain.

Aiviq remains little tested in heavy ice conditions. It encountered some summer ice in Antarctica in support of Australia’s Antarctic Division during the 2021-2023 seasons. Testing its icebreaking capabilities will likely sit near the top of the Coast Guard’s to-do list once it enters into service in 2026.

“The Healy has an ice class roughly equivalent to the Aiviq. The Healy has already been to the North Pole during the summer. It is a scientific vessel, the Aiviq is not,” explains Hervé Baudu, Arctic shipping expert and Chief Professor of Maritime Education at the French Maritime Academy (ENSM). 

The two vessels’ straight-line icebreaking capabilities as well as ice-classes are similar. With a Polar Class 3-equivalent designation Aiviq can operate year-round in polar waters and pass through moderate multi-year ice conditions. Similarly, Healy can break through 4.5 ft of ice continuously, or significantly more using backing and ramming.

But while Healy was purpose-built for Arctic operations, Aiviq was designed as a heavy-duty workhorse for industrial and commercial purposes. The latters controllable pitch propellers and mechanical drive train without heavy flywheels reduce its overall capability.

As for if Aiviq could reach the North Pole. Possibly, on a good day, but it likely wouldn’t be wise to send it there alone. “The vessel might get stuck in heavy ice ridges,” an Arctic operations expert familiar with the vessel’s capabilities speculated. 

Healy on the other hand has been to the North Pole unaccompanied on two occasions, in addition to two other times. 

It remains to be seen how the Coast Guard will be able to fit a vessel optimized for logistics and towing rather than scientific or military operations into its mission profile. 

Its unsuitability for military operations was one of the reasons why USCG leadership repeatedly turned down proposals to acquire the vessel going back to 2015. At the time Vice-Commandant Admiral Charles Michel called the vessel “not suitable for military service without substantial refit.”

Aiviq, to be renamed Storis once it enters service, is currently undergoing this “substantial” 18-months refit. The modifications are likely also required to comply with the National Defense Authorization Act. The Act stipulates that any commercial icebreaker the Coast Guard acquires needs to be comparable in scientific capability to icebreaker Healy, a tall order for Aiviq.

Even with the refit, Aiviq will almost certainly not be able to match Healy’s ability to support extended scientific missions with accommodations for over 50 scientists or match its operational endurance needed for long-term missions deep into the Arctic.

“Its primary vocation will be sovereignty, sailing mainly in the Beaufort Sea and monitoring Chinese and Russian patrols when they pass through the Bering Sea,” concludes Baudu.

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