The two-day exercise ‘Sea Vigil’ to test the operational readiness of coastal defence all along the 7,516 km long coastline of India focused on all aspects of maritime security and contingencies ranging from peace to wartime, the Navy said here Thursday. The extensive drill with largest participation of all stakeholders ended on Wednesday.
Giving details of the outcome of the exercise in the backdrop steps taken to shore up security after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks through sea in 2008, Navy officials said the conceptual and geographical expanse of ‘Sea Vigil’ included contingencies ranging from Peace to War-time across the entire coastline and Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the country. In addition, mitigation measures, on shore, in case of any breach in Coastal Security mechanism were also validated. The exercise involved participation of more than 17 Government agencies from nine coastal states and four Union Territories(UT) involved in the Coastal Defence Mechanism and Coastal Security construct. This edition of exercise ‘Sea Vigil’ saw the largest participation from all maritime security agencies.
More than 500 surface assets from the Indian Navy, Coast Guard , States Marine/ Coastal Police, Customs, Forest Department, Port Authorities and private operators participated in the exercise. The entire coastline was kept under surveillance by the Navy and Coast Guard ships and aircraft. 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, the 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 state police teams, Indian Navy Marine Commandos and Commandos from National Security Guard(NSG) were exercised to tackle acts of maritime terrorism.