Indian Navy coordinates largest-ever coastal defence exercise
22 Jan 2019
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The Indian Navy today kicked off the largest coastal defence exercise, covering the entire 7,516.6 km coastline and Exclusive Economic Zone of India and involving all 13 coastal states and union territories.
Exercise `Sea Vigil’, a first of its kind operation, is being undertaken along with all maritime stakeholders, including the fishing and coastal communities.
Exercise Sea Vigil aims to comprehensively and holistically validate the efficacy of the measures taken since '26/11'. Seaward monitoring during the exercise will entail patrolling off coast, in offshore development areas and off Indian islands by the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard, supported by the state marine police.
Closer coast, strategic assets, ports, single point moorings (SPMs) will be patrolled by designated agencies. Seaward monitoring will also entail inputs from technical means, including intelligence sources. Shore-based monitoring will entail enhanced vigil by the state police along the coast; monitoring of fish landing centres by state fisheries departments; as also monitoring of port areas by respective port authorities.
The exercise aims to simultaneously activate the coastal security mechanism across all states and union territories. It will cover a wide frontage, including the entire coast of India and island territories. The exercise will also go deeper, being spread over seaward, coastal, and hinterland areas. Evaluation of critical areas and processes, including inter-agency coordination, information sharing and technical surveillance will be undertaken. Multi agency audit and identification of gaps, shortfalls and incorporation of lessons learnt into SOPs are also the desired outcomes.
While smaller exercises are conducted in coastal states on a biannual basis, including combined exercises amongst adjoining states, the conduct of a security exercise at a national-level is perhaps the first of its kind.
Exercise Sea Vigil will provide a realistic assessment of India’s strengths and weakness and this will certainly help further strengthening of maritime security and in turn national security, a defence ministry release stated.
The scale of the exercise is unprecedented in terms of the geographical extent, the number of stakeholders involved, the number of units participating and in terms of the objectives to be met. The conduct of the exercise is also being facilitated by the ministries of defence, home affairs, shipping, petroleum and natural gas, fisheries, customs, state governments and other agencies of centre/ state.
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