Availability and Use of Aircraft in the Coast Guard

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At a Glance

In this report, the Congressional Budget Office analyzes patterns in the availability and use of aircraft by the U.S. Coast Guard, the agency responsible for protecting the nation’s waterways, from 2006 to 2024. CBO looks at availability—a measure of the percentage of time aircraft can be flown for training or missions—and flying hours, both in total and per aircraft.

Here are CBO’s findings about the fleet’s size, availability, and use:

  • Size. As of 2024, the Coast Guard had about 200 manned aircraft. About three-fourths of those are rotary-wing aircraft (H-65 and H-60 helicopters), and the rest are fixed-wing aircraft. Since the early 2010s, the number of Coast Guard aircraft has declined.
  • Availability. From 2006 to 2024, the availability of Coast Guard aircraft decreased slightly. Availability of fixed-wing aircraft has been generally lower than that of helicopters, although their respective availability rates have converged in recent years. In 2024, the Coast Guard’s average availability rate for its aircraft was 49 percent.
  • Use. Total flying hours for Coast Guard aircraft have decreased since 2006. Use of the H-65 fleet has declined the most, especially since 2019. The fixed-wing C-144 fleet has logged the most flying hours per aircraft.
  • Comparison With Availability and Use of Other Aircraft. In general, Coast Guard aircraft fly much more than similar Department of Defense (DoD) aircraft, but their availability rates are about the same as those of DoD’s aircraft.
  • Comparison With Availability and Use When Operated by the Navy. CBO analyzed 10 Coast Guard H-60s that were formerly operated by the Department of the Navy. During service in the Navy, those H-60s flew fewer hours, on average, than other H-60s operated by the Navy. After those H-60s were refurbished in a depot to perform different missions, the Coast Guard began to operate them. Availability rates and flying hours per year for those helicopters were markedly greater than when they were operated by the Navy.
  • Availability and Use During the Pandemic. Even though the availability rate of Coast Guard aircraft did not change markedly during the coronavirus pandemic, their flying hours dropped in March 2020 and reached their lowest point in April 2020.

Notes About This Report

All years referred to in this report are federal fiscal years, which run from October 1 to September 30 and are designated by the calendar year in which they end.

Numbers in the text and figures may not add up to totals because of rounding.

An aircraft’s age refers to how long it has been since the Coast Guard took possession of that aircraft. Age 1 consists of months 1 to 12, age 2 consists of months 13 to 24, and so forth. (That counting scheme differs from traditional birthday enumeration in which, for instance, a 6-year-old child has already lived six years and is living through her seventh year of life.)

Data about Coast Guard aircraft in this report come from the Coast Guard’s Asset Logistics Management Information System (ALMIS). Data about Air Force helicopters come from the Air Force’s Reliability and Maintainability Information System (REMIS). Data about Army helicopters come from the Global Combat Support System–Army Enterprise Aviation data system. Data about Department of the Navy helicopters come from the Department of the Navy’s Decision Knowledge Programming for Logistics Analysis and Technical Evaluation system (DECKPLATE).

This report is the latest in a series of related publications. CBO previously analyzed the availability and use of aircraft in the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army, and the Department of the Navy (including the U.S. Marine Corps). For those analyses, see the following publications:

On the cover: The illustration, by R.L. Rebach, depicts, from top to bottom, a C-144 Ocean Sentry, an H-60 Jayhawk, and an H-65 Dolphin.

This Congressional Budget Office report analyzes the availability and use of aircraft by the U.S. Coast Guard from 2006 to 2024. That agency, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, ensures the safety, security, and stewardship of the nation’s waterways. It handles a broad range of missions, from search and rescue to drug interdiction, environmental protection, and maritime law enforcement.

CBO analyzed the six different types of manned aircraft that the Coast Guard operated over the 2006‒2024 period—two fleets of rotary-wing aircraft, or helicopters (H-60s and H-65s), and four fleets of fixed-wing aircraft (C-27s, C-130s, C-144s, and U-25s). C-130s, H-60s, and H-65s were operated by the Coast Guard every year from 2006 to 2024. The C-144s entered Coast Guard service in 2008, and the C-27s entered Coast Guard service in 2016.1 The U-25 fleet was retired in 2014. The Coast Guard additionally operates two C-37 Gulfstream V long-range command jets, which are not included in CBO’s analysis.

In 2024, the Coast Guard had about 200 manned aircraft. Roughly half of those aircraft were H-65 helicopters, and about a quarter were H-60 helicopters. The remaining one-quarter were primarily C-27s, C-130s, and C-144s.

Types of Aircraft Operated by the Coast Guard

The Coast Guard’s two types of helicopters (H-65s and H-60s) entered the fleet in 1984 and 1990, respectively. The H-65 was derived from an AS365 manufactured by Aerospatiale Helicopter Corporation (now part of Airbus).2 The H-60 was derived from the Sikorsky SH-60F and HH-60H.3

The Coast Guard’s three primary types of fixed-wing aircraft (C-130s, C-144s, and C-27s) entered the fleet in 1959, 2008, and 2016, respectively. The C-130 is manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The C-144 was based on the Airbus CASA CN-235. The C-27 was based on the Aeritalia (now part of Leonardo S.p.A.) G.222. The U-25 fleet, derived from the Dassault Falcon 20 business jet, entered Coast Guard service in 1982 and was retired in 2014.4

A Visual Guide to Coast Guard Aircraft

Trends in the Size of the Coast Guard’s Fleets

Since the early 2010s, the number of Coast Guard aircraft has generally declined. Fixed-wing aircraft have decreased in number, whereas the number of helicopters has increased. The 2025 reconciliation act provided $3.7 billion to the Coast Guard to procure and acquire additional aircraft, but those future aircraft are outside the scope of this report.

Number of Helicopters and Fixed-Wing Aircraft

As of 2024, the Coast Guard had about 200 aircraft. About three-quarters were helicopters, and the rest were fixed-wing aircraft.

Number of Aircraft, by Fleet

The numbers of H-65 and H-60 helicopters have remained relatively stable since 2006. The C-27 and C-144 fleets increased as they entered service. The Coast Guard has transitioned from the C-130H to the C-130J variant of that aircraft, but more C-130Hs have been retired than C-130Js have been added. The size of the U-25 fleet decreased as those aircraft were retired.

Trends in the Age of the Coast Guard’s Fleets

The average age of Coast Guard aircraft has generally increased. For fixed-wing aircraft, though, the average age has decreased, because of new fleets and the retirement of many older C-130 aircraft. The H-65 is currently the Coast Guard’s oldest fleet. According to researchers, that aircraft is projected to reach the end of its service life in the mid-2030s.5

Average Age of Helicopters and Fixed-Wing Aircraft

Years

Since 2006, Coast Guard helicopters have aged steadily, whereas the average age of fixed-wing aircraft has generally declined.

Average Age of Aircraft, by Fleet

Years

Except for C-130s, every fleet has steadily increased in age since 2006 or the year it entered service. The C-130 fleet has gotten younger because of the transition from the C-130H to the C-130J, which started in 2008. From 2015 to 2024, the pace of that transition accelerated as the Coast Guard retired more C-130Hs and acquired more new C-130Js.

Aircraft Availability

To determine a fleet’s availability rate, CBO started with the number of hours that aircraft are mission capable (either fully or partially, meaning the aircraft can perform some but not all of its missions) and in the possession of operational squadrons. CBO divided that number by total possible hours, including those for aircraft receiving maintenance in a depot. CBO’s calculation of availability differs from an approach the Department of Defense (DoD) often uses that excludes aircraft in depot-level maintenance from the denominator of the calculation. Using its availability calculation technique, CBO found that Coast Guard helicopters tend to have availability rates that are lower than the rates for Army helicopters, higher than the rates for Department of the Navy (DoN) helicopters, and similar to those of Air Force helicopters.

Annual Availability Rates of Helicopters and Fixed-Wing Aircraft

Percent

The Coast Guard’s total aircraft availability rate has decreased slightly since 2006 and stood at 49 percent in 2024. Helicopters have generally had a higher availability rate than fixed-wing aircraft, but those rates have converged in recent years.

Annual Availability Rate of Aircraft, by Fleet

Percent

Availability rates of H-60s, H-65s, and C-144s have remained stable at around 60 percent, with H-60 and H-65 availability decreasing somewhat in recent years. C-130s’ availability rates have been between 40 and 50 percent, though they have increased recently as the fleet has gotten younger. The availability rate of U-25s dropped as they were retired, and C-27s’ availability rates varied around 40 percent before decreasing in recent years.

Aircraft Use

To get the fullest picture of aircraft use, CBO calculated two metrics: total flying hours for a fleet and average flying hours per aircraft. CBO compared the average flying hours per aircraft for the Coast Guard and for other branches of the military—the Army, DoN, and Air Force.

Total Flying Hours

CBO calculated total flying hours by adding up the hours for all Coast Guard aircraft and for specific types of aircraft.

Total Flying Hours of Helicopters and Fixed-Wing Aircraft

Thousands of hours

Total flying hours for the Coast Guard fleet have decreased since 2006. Most of the flying-hour decrease has been for helicopters; total use of fixed-wing aircraft has declined only slightly.

Total Flying Hours of Aircraft, by Fleet

Thousands of hours

Flying hours for H-65s have decreased markedly since 2019 despite that fleet’s remaining roughly the same size. As the C-130 fleet has decreased in size, its total flying hours have declined significantly since 2015. In contrast, the H-60 fleet has maintained steady total flying hours since 2006.

Flying Hours per Aircraft

CBO calculated the number of hours each aircraft flew each year by dividing total flying hours by the number of each type of aircraft.

Flying Hours per Helicopter for the Army, Department of the Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard

Hours per aircraft

On average, Coast Guard helicopters flew significantly more hours than DoD’s helicopters. (CBO also compared Coast Guard H-60s with DoD’s H-60s and found a similar result.)

Flying Hours per Helicopter and Fixed-Wing Aircraft

Hours per aircraft

Since 2015, Coast Guard fixed-wing aircraft have flown more hours per aircraft, on average, than Coast Guard helicopters have flown. The jump in flying hours for fixed-wing aircraft in 2015 coincided with the retirement of 14 U-25s.

Flying Hours per Aircraft, by Fleet

Hours per aircraft

Since entering service, the C-144 fleet has flown more hours per aircraft than other types of Coast Guard aircraft. Other extant fleets have generally flown about 400 to 600 hours per aircraft per year. U-25 flying hours decreased as those aircraft neared retirement.

Relationships Between Helicopters’ Age and Their Use and Availability

CBO has previously estimated relationships between the age of DoD’s aircraft and their use and availability.6 Here the agency applies the same estimating technique to Coast Guard helicopters. For fixed-wing Coast Guard aircraft, because those fleets are much smaller than the Coast Guard’s helicopter fleets, the results are highly variable across aircrafts’ ages.

Flying Hours of Helicopters, by Age

Hours per aircraft

Flying hours per aircraft have generally decreased with age for Coast Guard helicopters, especially H-65s. The helicopters’ availability rates show the same periodicity seen in their usage rates.

Depot Periods for Coast Guard Helicopters

The sharp drops in flying hours for Coast Guard helicopters shown on the previous page coincided with periods during which the aircraft were receiving depot-level maintenance, CBO found. That maintenance typically entails disassembly of the aircraft, repair or replacement of broken and obsolete parts, then reassembly of the aircraft. Over a four-year period, the Coast Guard plans to have an H-65 spend 185 days in depot-level maintenance; for the larger H-60 aircraft, the target is 220 days. The figures on this page show nonavailability rates for Coast Guard helicopters—that is, 100 minus their availability rates. Nonavailability outside of depot-level maintenance can be caused by aircrafts’ awaiting required replacement parts or on-base maintenance personnel’s being unable to fix an aircraft.

Nonavailability Rates of H-65s, by Age

Percent

Individual H-65s have notable peaks in depot-level maintenance every four or five years. Nonavailability of H-65s that is unrelated to depot-level maintenance has increased as the aircraft have aged.

Nonavailability Rates of H-60s, by Age

Percent

The rate of depot-level maintenance increases sharply for individual H-60s every four or five years. Nonavailability of H-60s that is not related to depot-level maintenance has increased moderately as the aircraft have aged.

Use of Coast Guard Aircraft, by Location

Coast Guard aircraft are assigned to about two dozen locations in the United States. CBO tabulated hours flown from each of those locations for fiscal year 2024. In that year, most flying hours were from bases in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions. The sizes of the circles in the map shown below correspond to how many thousands of flying hours occurred out of each location.

Total Flying Hours of Aircraft, by Location, in 2024

Thousands of hours

Coast Guard aircraft spent more hours flying in the Southeast than in any other region. The base with the most flying hours is in Mobile, Alabama, which hosts both a training center and an operational unit. Air Station Atlantic City provides multiple aircraft to the National Capital Region Air Defense Facility in Washington, D.C.

Analysis of Former Department of the Navy Aircraft

The Coast Guard provided CBO with the tail numbers of 10 former DoN H-60 helicopters. (The Navy and the Coast Guard use different tail numbering schemes, but the enumeration showed both tail numbers for each of the 10 H-60s.) After service in the DoN, those helicopters were overhauled and outfitted with new components to fulfill the different missions associated with use by the Coast Guard. CBO analyzed how those 10 H-60s performed while in operation by the DoN and by the Coast Guard.

Use of Coast Guard Helicopters by the Department of the Navy

The last year that all 10 future Coast Guard H-60s were in the DoN was 2007. By 2012, five H-60s were left; by 2019, only one.

Availability Rate of H-60s in the Department of the Navy

Percent

Availability rates decreased for both future Coast Guard H-60s and other DoN H-60s—but the decline was steeper for the last future Coast Guard H-60s to leave the DoN. As of 2012, the Navy had only five of the future Coast Guard H-60s, with the number decreasing further over the next seven years.

Flying Hours per Aircraft for H-60s in the Department of the Navy

Hours per aircraft

Flying hours of future Coast Guard H-60s generally stayed lower than flying hours for all other DoN H-60s. As more of the helicopters moved to the Coast Guard, flying hours decreased for those that remained.

Comparison of Use by the Department of the Navy and the Coast Guard

CBO compared the 10 H-60s’ availability and use from when they were in the DoN and when they were in the Coast Guard. The year that each H-60 joined the Coast Guard is denoted year 1, increasing sequentially for every year thereafter; the last year the plane was in the DoN is denoted year -1, decreasing sequentially for every year before. The transition period varied in length; it had a median length of 40 months but ranged from 27 to 122 months. During the transition period, the former DoN H-60s may have been in storage before they received depot-level maintenance and overhauling to prepare them for the different missions associated with service in the Coast Guard.

Availability Rate of H-60s Before and After Their Transition to the Coast Guard

Percent

The availability rate of H-60s decreased until they moved to the Coast Guard. After joining the Coast Guard, the H-60s had markedly higher availability rates.

Flying Hours per H-60 Before and After Its Transition to the Coast Guard

Hours per aircraft

Flying hours per aircraft followed a pattern similar to that of availability rates, decreasing in the years leading up to the move and then jumping once the H-60s were in the Coast Guard.

Effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Aircraft Availability and Use

In the initial months of the pandemic (March and April 2020), the availability of Coast Guard aircraft remained the same but flying hours per aircraft decreased markedly. For DoD aircraft, flying hours fell sharply but availability rates increased.7

Effect on Availability Rates

Availability of Coast Guard aircraft seems to have been unaffected by the pandemic, because the rate did not markedly increase or decrease around March 2020.

Availability Rates of Aircraft From October 2019 to March 2021, by Month

Percent

In contrast to the Coast Guard’s constant availability rates for its aircraft, the availability rates of DoD’s aircraft increased in the early months of the pandemic.

Effect on Flying Hours per Aircraft

To evaluate the effect of the pandemic on flying hours, CBO computed five-year monthly averages of flying hours per aircraft for the years preceding the pandemic. The agency then compared those averages with the average flying hours per aircraft in the corresponding months in fiscal years 2020 and 2021.

Flying Hours as a Percentage of Prepandemic Averages From October 2019 to March 2021, by Month

Percent

Flying hours in March 2020 dropped below their average for March in previous years. Coast Guard aircraft flew 80 percent as many hours in April 2020 as they had typically flown in earlier Aprils, but aircraft use generally increased after that month. CBO found a similar pattern for DoD aircraft.

  1. 1. Although C-27s and C-144s are both medium-range, fixed-wing surveillance aircraft, they have different capabilities. The C-27, which originated as a transport aircraft, is faster, has a longer range, and has a higher payload capacity (the maximum weight of people and cargo that can be carried safely). The C-144 is more maneuverable, was specifically designed for surveillance, and is equipped with a more comprehensive package of sensors.

  2. 2. For information about the H-65, see United States Coast Guard, “MH-65 Short Range Recovery Helicopter,” https://tinyurl.com/2fhswknc.

  3. 3. For information about the H-60, see Sikorsky, “HH-60 J Jayhawks,” https://tinyurl.com/4rejzfnc.

  4. 4. For more information, see United States Coast Guard, “HU-25 Guardian” (March 23, 2020), https://tinyurl.com/2s4k22bs.

  5. 5. For details, see Jeremy M. Eckhause and others, Meeting U. S. Coast Guard Airpower Needs: Assessing the Options (RAND Corporation, 2020), p. 24, www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR3179.html.

  6. 6. For that analysis, see Congressional Budget Office, Availability, Use, and Operating and Support Costs of F-35 Fighter Aircraft (June 2025), www.cbo.gov/publication/61347.

  7. 7. For details, see Congressional Budget Office, Availability and Use of Aircraft in the Army (September 2024), www.cbo.gov/publication/60313, and Availability and Use of Aircraft in the Air Force and Navy (January 2022), www.cbo.gov/publication/57433.

About This Document

This report was prepared at the request of the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. In keeping with the Congressional Budget Office’s mandate to provide objective, impartial analysis, the report makes no recommendations.

Ella Rischard (formerly of CBO) and Edward G. Keating prepared this report with guidance from David Mosher. Sheila Campbell, Aaron Krupkin, Christopher Martin, and Charles Pineles-Mark provided comments. Amelia Keith-Schwartz fact-checked the report.

Aaron Davenport of the RAND Corporation provided comments on an earlier draft. The assistance of an external reviewer implies no responsibility for the final product; that responsibility rests solely with CBO.

Jeffrey Kling reviewed the report, Christine Bogusz edited it, and R.L. Rebach created the graphics and prepared the text for publication.

CBO seeks feedback to make its work as useful as possible. Please send comments to communications@cbo.gov.

Phillip L. Swagel

Director

November 2025