NEW DELHI: The operational readiness of the sword arm of India’s maritime force was reviewed on Sunday. It followed a comprehensive coastal security exercise on the eastern sea-board. Indian Navy on Sunday said, “Vice Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Flag Officer Commanding in Chief (FOCinC) Western Naval Command (WNC) embarked Western Fleet for a review of operational readiness inspection of the Western Fleet”. Rear Admiral Vineet McCarty is the Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet (FOCWF).
“The CinC witnessed anti-submarine, anti-aircraft, and surface drills, and live firings by multiple platforms in a realistic multi-threat scenario, including air operations from INS Vikramaditya.”
The CinC also embarked the newly inducted MH60R helicopter and expressed satisfaction with efforts made for early fleet integration. The biggest ships of the Indian Navy form part of its two Fleets. A Fleet is a group of ships that operate under one authority. The Indian Navy’s Western Fleet is based at Mumbai and the Eastern Fleet is based at Visakhapatnam.
Meanwhile, at a larger scale, on the Eastern seaboard a two-day comprehensive Coastal Security Exercise Sagar Kavach 02/23 involving all maritime security agencies was conducted by the Indian Navy in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and the UT of Puducherry last week from 11-12 October. The exercise was executed under the aegis of the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command, FOCINC (East) who also exercises the authority of Commander-in-Chief, Coastal Defence (East).
About 2500 personnel from the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, State and U/T Administration, Marine Police, Fisheries, Customs, Intelligence Agencies, Light Houses, Ports Forest etc were engaged in the exercise.
The exercise aimed to assess the efficacy and robustness of the coastal security mechanism while dealing with asymmetric threat emanating from the sea.
Indian Naval Ships along with assets of the Coast Guard and other coastal security agencies were deployed to augment surveillance in the area. Enhanced security measures were instituted and extensive aerial surveillance undertaken by Dornier aircraft and helicopters operating from Visakhapatnam, Chennai and Ramnathapuram. The exercise was closely monitored at Joint Operations Centre (East) at Visakhapatnam which is the nodal hub for all coastal security operations and exercises in the area of operations. The exercise witnessed close coordination and synergy among all coastal security stakeholders.