KOCHI: Adding more fire power to the Indian Coast Guard, two more interceptor boats were commissioned here on Monday. The vessels, C-150 and C-151, were commissioned by Vice-Admiral Anil Chopra, Director- General, Indian Coast Guard.
The boats, designed to perform a variety of roles including, surveillance, search and rescue, anti- smuggling and anti-poaching operations will be based in Vizhinjam in Kerala and Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh.
They are the eighth and ninth in the series of eleven interceptor boats being built by ABG Shipyard, Surat. The boats are fitted with modern navigational and communication equipment. The 28-metre-long ships have an endurance of 500 nautical miles and can achieve speeds up to 45 knots and have advanced navigational and communication equipment.
In addition to small arms, the boats are also fitted with 12.7-mm ‘Prahari’ heavy machine guns) to augment the fire power. The aluminium-hulled vessels are propelled by water jets with the added advantage of shallow water operations and high speed. C-150 and C-151 are commanded by Commandant (JG) Ashok Kumar and Commandant (JG) R K Sinha respectively. The ships will have a crew of eleven each.
In his address, Anil Chopra termed the interceptor boats the work horses of the Coast Guard. The Admiral also dwelt upon the fast-paced development of the Indian Coast Guard and acknowledged the Government of India’s support to the Coast Guard’s plans to increase force levels substantially and exponentially to face the emerging security challenges in the maritime domain. Chopra said that, as on date, the Coast Guard has a fleet of 75 ships and 45 aircraft. It will have 42 stations and 15 air units at various locations along the coast by 2012. Further, a coastal surveillance network is being established with 46 stations in phase I and 38 more in phase II, to ensure real-time coastal surveillance.
Inspector-General S P S Basra, Commander, Coast Guard Region West, Rear Admiral S Y Shrikhande, Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command, Chief Commissioner of Customs Shri Vineet Ohri, DIG T K Satheesh Chandran, Commander Coast Guard District 12 and Major Arun Pathak (Retd), executive director ABG Shipyard Ltd attended the function.