Harbour Defence System inaugurated at Visakhapatnam

Harbour Defence System inaugurated at Visakhapatnam

Two state-of-the-art Harbour Defence Systems namely Integrated Underwater Harbour Defence and Surveillance System (IUHDSS) and Mine Warfare Data Centre (MWDC) which would enhance the Navy's surveillance capability and response to security threats were inaugurated by Vice Admiral HCS Bisht, AVSM Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command at the Naval Dockyard on 10 May 2016.

The IUHDSS is a multi-sensor system capable of detecting, identifying, tracking and generating warnings for all types of surface and underwater threats to Visakhapatnam harbour. Post 26/11, the Indian Navy was made responsible for the security of the country's vast coastline of 7516 kms in coordination with other agencies like Indian Coast Guard, Marine Police, Fisheries etc. The creation of the Sagar Prahari Bal, induction of Fast Interceptor Crafts (FICs) and commissioning of the IUHDSS are some of the Navy's measures to strengthen security.

The MWDC will collate, analyse and classify data collected by the Navy's Mine Hunting Ships from various ports along the East coast. This state-of-the-art facility will be the nodal centre for maintaining an underwater information database of harbours along the East coast.

Both the IUHDSS and MWDC will function under the control of the Naval Officer-in-Charge (Andhra Pradesh), Commodore Sanjiv Issar.