EXCLUSIVE — The U.S. Coast Guard is awarding a contract to Canada’s Davie Defense, Inc. to construct the final five of 11 Arctic Security Cutter icebreakers ordered by President Donald Trump last year.
In October 2025, Trump and Finnish President Alexander Stubb announced a new partnership between the United States and Finland to build out America’s icebreaker fleet, a critical leg of the president’s Arctic defense strategy. The partnership dictated that four of the American icebreakers be constructed in Finland, the undisputed global leader in icebreaker construction, with the remaining seven built domestically in the United States.
“America has been an Arctic nation for over 150 years, and we’re finally acting like it under President Trump. Our adversaries continue to look to grow their presence in the Arctic, equipping the Coast Guard with Arctic Security Cutters will help reassert American maritime dominance there,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. “Revitalizing the U.S. Coast Guard’s icebreaking capabilities is crucial for our security and prosperity, and today’s announcement is an important step in that direction.”
Davie will construct two of its five awarded Arctic Security Cutters at the Helsinki Shipyard in Finland and anchor construction of the remaining three at shipyards in Galveston and Port Arthur, Texas.
While the decision to award the final icebreaker contract to a Canadian defense company may raise some eyebrows in Washington, given the recent threats the president has levied against America’s northern neighbor, a senior Trump administration official pointed to the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort Pact signed by the U.S., Canada, and Finland last November.
“We have a trilateral agreement, and it’s working out great for us,” the official stated.
Davie Defense CEO Kai Skvarla said the firm was “deeply honored” by the Coast Guard’s “vote of confidence.”
“We can’t wait to get started on delivering mission-ready cutters to our valued U.S. Coast Guard partner,” he wrote in a statement. “By anchoring construction in Texas, while drawing on Helsinki Shipyard’s proven icebreaker expertise, we can deliver the ASCs to meet the Coast Guard’s operational needs in the world’s harshest environments.”
Adm. Kevin E. Lunday, commandant of the Coast Guard, added that Trump’s icebreaker partnership “ensures the United States maintains its leadership as a maritime power in the Arctic.”
“Accelerating construction of these cutters will enable the Coast Guard to defend our northern border and approaches, while strengthening domestic shipbuilding and reinforcing the nation’s industrial base,” Lunday explained.
The Coast Guard awarded two other icebreaker contracts in December 2025. The first awarded two icebreakers to Finland’s Rauma Marine Constructions Oy, with a second going to Bollinger Shipyards Lockport LLC to construct four in Louisiana.
The first icebreakers are expected to be delivered by 2028.
In total, Trump has poured billions into revitalizing American shipbuilding. The president’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act funneled $25 billion into expanding the polar fleet specifically, and Trump has previously set the goal of commissioning 48 new icebreakers before the end of his term.
The American icebreaker fleet only had two operational icebreakers when Trump entered office in January 2025. For comparison, the Russian navy boasts 40 icebreakers, while the Chinese navy operates five of its own.
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Still, defense experts warn that Trump’s hopes of building out an icebreaker fleet as large as Russia’s are more “pie in the sky” than realistic.
“We are not going to have an icebreaker fleet anywhere on par with Russia,” Lyle Goldstein, the director of Defense Priorities’ Asia program and a former professor at U.S. Naval War College, previously told the Washington Examiner. “No, not ‘anytime soon.’ I mean that I don’t think it’ll ever happen.”