Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 21

Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba will on Tuesday kick off the biggest search operation at sea to hunt for enemies aiming to attack India through sea route, exactly the way Mumbai was attacked by terrorists in November 2008.

The tw-day drill is part of an unprecedented exercise, ‘Sea vigil’, which will test and validate India’s coastal security architecture set up after the attack on the Maharashtra capital, infamous as 26/11.

Admiral Lanba will send out a “signal”—military parlance for a message—to commanders along the coast and given “targets” that will need to be found. No time has been given as to when this signal will go out as the surprise element has to be maintained. These targets will be vessels at sea which Admiral Lanba designates as “enemy” and will have to be found and “terminated” using all resources. It will cover the entire spectrum of maritime security.

Involved in these search operations will be the Navy, Coast Guard, Customs, marine police and state police forces, warships, helicopters, fast-attack crafts and a chain of radars set up all along the coast, UAVs and satellites.

The National Command Control Communication and Intelligence Network with the Information Management Analysis Centre at Gurugram will be operational. A total of 51 nodes of the Navy and Coast Guard are integrated—all will provide comprehensive maritime domain awareness. The exercise will be undertaken along the entire 7,516-km coastline and exclusive economic zone.