Strengthening coastal surveillance can prevent a repetition of terror attacks such as Mumbai 26/11

The establishment of 42 additional radar stations along the coast to strengthen coastal surveillance and prevent a repetition of terror attacks such as that on 26/11 (2008) in Mumbai is likely to be completed by November 2021, according to the Defence Ministry. The project is being implemented by Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for the Indian Coast Guard.

“Post implementation of Phase-I and Phase-II of the chain of Static Sensors, the Indian coastline will be under the surveillance of 104 radar stations being one of the largest of such network,” the Defence Ministry said in its annual report. The contract with BEL was concluded on January 15, 2020 with a cost of ₹1,814.32 crore.

In November 2020, BEL concluded a deal with Denmark-based company Terma to make their SCANTER 2001 radars in India under a transfer of technology agreement. “Continuing our well-established partnership from Phase I into Phase II, Terma will be providing additional technology transfer to BEL for manufacturing the radars required for Coastal Surveillance System (CSS) Phase II project. Most of the modules and spares etc. will be made by BEL and its vendors in India. The complete installation, commissioning and life cycle support of the radars is also going to be undertaken by BEL,” Anupam Mathur, vice president and general manager, Terma Asia Pacific, had said at the time of the deal.

The Indian Navy’s Gurugram-based Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC), which was set up after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, is the nodal agency for maritime data fusion. The IMAC, which became operational in 2014 at a cost of ₹450 crore, is the nodal centre of the National Command Control Communication and Intelligence System (NC3I), which was established to link the operational centres and lower echelons of the Navy and Coast Guard spread across the country’s coastline, including the island territories.

Under Phase-I of the CSS, 46 coastal radar stations have been set up, and under Phase-II, 38 static radar stations and four mobile radar stations are being set up. Plans are also afoot to convert the IMAC into a multi-agency National Maritime Domain Awareness centre. Some of the Indian Ocean littoral states such as Mauritius, Sri Lanka and Seychelles have also been integrated into the CSS, and discussions are on with several more countries.