Coastal defence exercise concludes

KOCHI: Sea Vigil, the first coastal defence exercise organised by the Navy and Coast Guard, in coordination with State Governments and Union Territories concluded on Wednesday. More than 100 ships, aircraft and patrol boats manned and operated by various security agencies participated in the full spectrum exercise to test the coastal security response system of the country.

The exercise, which commenced on Tuesday morning provided the stake holders to assess the robustness of their own organisations. During the second phase, simulated attacks were carried out on vital installations and assets by infiltrating through the sea, in Kerala and Lakshadweep. The security agencies were able to thwart attempts to infiltrate onto the coast using commandeered fishing boats.

Response of agencies to other security contingencies such as hijacking of a ship and attack on offshore installations off Kochi harbour was also tested. All infiltration attempts will be analysed promptly to identify gaps in the multi-tier security layers at sea, close to the land and also in the hinterland.

The security exercise witnessed a high tempo of operations by all agencies and large-scale deployment of forces. Multi-agency teams evaluated the security set up implemented by agencies at fishing harbours, fish landing centres, police control rooms and ports amongst others.

Coastal Defence Commander-in-Chief Vice Admiral Anil Kumar Chawla reviewed the progress of the Sea Vigil in the presence of senior officers from Navy, Coast Guard, Coastal Police and other agencies at the Joint Operations Centre in Kochi.