Two-day coastal defence exercise conducted on January 12-13

Mumbai Police personnel keep vigil at Juhu beach. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

Two-day coastal defence exercise, Exercise Sea Vigil, was conducted on January 12 and 13. The conceptual and geographical expanse of the sea vigil included the entire coastline and EEZ of the country and contingencies from peace to war-time were exercised. In addition, mitigation measures on shore, in case of any breach in coastal security, were also validated.

According to defence spokesperson, "The exercise involved the deployment of the entire coastal security apparatus and more than 110 surface assets of Indian Navy and Coast Guard participated in the exercise. In addition, a large number of Marine Police and Customs assets were also deployed. The entire coastline was kept under surveillance by the Navy and Coast Guard aircrafts, and helicopters were also pressed into service to reinforce Special Operations personnel operating onboard offshore platforms."

"As ports form the nerve centre of sea borne trade, security mechanism of ports was also validated during the exercise and the crisis management plans of all ports were assessed for their effectiveness to tackle emergencies. The police teams, Indian Navy Marine Commandos and National Security Guard Commandos also exercised to tackle acts of maritime terrorism," the spokesperson added.

This exercise also validated the technical surveillance infrastructure called the National Command, Control, Communication and Intelligence (NC3I) network. The Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) at Gurugram and its various nodes across Navy and Coast Guard stations were exercised for coordinating the surveillance and information dissemination mechanism.

The cooperation and coordination amongst various agencies involved is a reassuring sign of progress made in the realm of coastal defence and the exercise would go a long way in enhancing coastal defence and national security in the maritime domain, the spokesperson stated.