NEW DELHI: Strengthening surveillance on India' over 7500 km long coastline, Ministry of defence on Tuesday approved 38 additional coastal radar stations with the cost of Rs 800 crore.
Defence Acquisition Council, the highest body for approval of defence program led by Defence minister Manohar Parrikar gave its nod to the acceptance of the necessity of 38 radar stations aimed to give gap less electronic surveillance of Indian coastline. Costal surveillance network is part of the measures security agencies took as a fallout of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. And today's approval is phase two of the project which already has 46 existing such coastal surveillance stations.
In addition, MoD also approves four mobile surveillance stations along with the integration of vessel traffic management systems in two places on Gujarat coastline.
"Coastal surveillance mechanism strengthened after 26/11 Mumbai terror. Vessel traffic management systems integrated at Kuchch and Khambat, as part of the surveillance mechanism," said an official
For the project, Bangalore-based Bharat Electronics Limited will be the lead integrator shortlisted by the defence ministry.
Various measures were taken to strengthen coastal security like Navy’s Joint Operations Centres as command and control hubs for coastal security at Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, Kochi and Port Blair are fully operational. In addition to continuous patrolling by Navy and Coast Guard, modern technical measures have also been implemented for coastal surveillance, by way of a chain of 74 Automatic Identification System (AIS) receivers, for gapless cover along the entire coast, according to navy.
In 2014, the National Command Control Communication and Intelligence Network (NC3I) was set in National Capital Region to cover-arching coastal security network collates data about all ships, dhows, fishing boats and all other vessels operating near our coast, from multiple technical sources including the AIS and radar chain. Over 2 lakh fishing vessels, operating off the coast has been issued identity cards.
The DAC also cleared a proposal to set up an integrated engine repair facility for Naval Mig-29K fighter jets at naval aircraft yard in Goa, the sources said.
Parrikar headed the first DAC meeting in South Block after the budget, as he was busy on electioneering in his home state Goa.
India had decided to significantly strengthen its coastal surveillance following the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008.
The DAC also cleared a proposal to set up an integrated engine repair facility for Naval Mig-29K fighter jets at naval aircraft yard in Goa, the sources said.