'Sea Vigil' to be Exercised on 22 and 23 January

'Sea Vigil' to be Exercised on 22 and 23 January

The Indian Navy, in close coordination with the Indian Coast Guard and all coastal security stakeholders will conduct a Coastal Defence Exercise codenamed ‘Sea Vigil 2019’ on 22 and 23 January 2019 along the complete coastline of the country. 'Sea Vigil' is a large-scale exercise being conducted for the first time ever and will aim to test India's preparedness to thwart any attempt by anti-national elements to carry out an attack on its territory or against its citizens by infiltrating through the sea route.

A wide range of contingencies, including simulated attacks on vital installations and assets along the coastline, will be exercised to assess the response, coordination and information sharing between agencies. This exercise will provide an opportunity to stakeholders to assess the capability and preparedness of individual organisations, identify deficiencies if any and address them on priority. Multi-agency teams will be deployed in all coastal districts to undertake security audit of various vulnerable locations such as Fish Landing Centres, as well as major, minor and intermediate ports, lighthouses, coastal police stations, control rooms and operations centres. The exercise is being conducted under the aegis of Commander-in-Chief, Coastal Defence, Southern Naval Command, Kochi and will be monitored closely from the Joint Operations Centre, Kochi.

Following the 26/11 attack of 2008, both Central and State Governments have instituted a number of steps to build coastal security capacity and capability of all stakeholders. It has been more than 10 years since this attack and, hence Exercise Sea Vigil, which will see participation by all agencies associated with coastal security, is well-timed. Several planning meetings have been held with all participating agencies and preparations for the exercise are in full swing in Kerala, Mahe and Lakshadweep Islands for the last few weeks.