The Department of Homeland Security announced on Wednesday that it cancelled the ongoing but delayed production of a legend-class National Security Cutter, saving more than $260 million.

Shipbuilding company Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) began production on the cutter in May 2021 and it was scheduled to be delivered to the Coast Guard by November 2024 at the latest. In August 2024, however, HII informed the service that the earliest possible delivery would be spring 2029 after a series of delays and setbacks.

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Coast Guard leaders decided to cancel the contract and end the production of the cutter in March 2025, and they completed the modification to cancel construction at the end of May.

“This is about fulfilling President Trump’s commitment to the American taxpayer,” Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said. “Huntington Ingalls owed us this cutter over a year ago. As the Trump administration is revitalizing the U.S. Coast Guard through Force Design 2028, we need to be smart with the American taxpayers’ money. This project was over time and over budget.”

The ill-fated project will ultimately cost the Coast Guard more than $300 million, though it includes roughly $135 million in parts delivered for the national security cutter fleet, which currently consists of ten operational vessels.

“Now the money can be redirected to ensuring the Coast Guard remains the finest, most-capable maritime service in the world,” she added. “I would like to extend my thanks to Huntington Ingalls for negotiating in good faith.”

Adm. Kevin Lunday, the current acting Coast Guard commandant, and Noem announced in April a new effort called Force Design 2028, a new plan for bringing about “transformational change to renew the Coast Guard,” Lunday said at the time.

It consists of four main campaigns: people, organization, technology, acquisition, and contracting.

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The strategy to modernize the service is meant to create a more agile, responsive force; reforming the acquisition process; deploying cutting edge technology; and eliminating non-essential and obsolete programs.

He acknowledged last month that the service “is at the lowest point of readiness than at any other time since the end of World War II,” and said the “readiness crisis has been decades in the making.”