India to conduct major naval exercise to check preparedness against sea route attacks

Indian Navy along with Coast Guard and other stakeholders will conduct a two-day defence exercise along the coastline from Tuesday.

Kochi: In a bid to analyse country’s preparedness against any attack through the sea route, the Indian Navy along with Coast Guard and other stakeholders will conduct a two-day defence exercise along the coastline from Tuesday. Codenamed ‘Sea Vigil 2019', the exercise will be conducted under the aegis of Commander-in-Chief, Coastal Defence, Southern Naval Command, Kochi. It will also be monitored closely by the Joint Operations Centre (JOC) in Kochi. The exercise is said to be the largest coastal exercise ever conducted in the country. “The exercise will include 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,” news agency PTI quoted a defence statement. “It will aim to test the country'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,” the statement read further. “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,” it added. The exercise will provide an opportunity for stakeholders to assess the capability and preparedness of individual organisations, identify deficiencies if any and address them on priority, it said. The statement also highlighted that several meetings have been held with all participating agencies and preparations for the exercise are on in full swing in Kerala, Mahe and Lakshadweep Islands for the last few weeks. According to reports, even Pakistan has planned to conduct a similar naval exercise in the month of February. It is reported to be a multinational naval exercise named as Aman-19 organised by the Pakistan Navy and as many as 44 countries is said to take part in it. According to the Pakistan Navy, the purpose of the exercise is to promote cooperation and interoperability between the regional and extra-regional navies. The Aman exercise by the neighbouring country has been organised since 2007 and during the first exercise, the country witnessed participation from more than 25 countries including US, UK, France, Italy among others.