New Delhi: The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the defence ministry’s apex procurement body, on Tuesday gave its go-ahead to the second phase of a seamless electronic surveillance plan along India’s coastlines. The project will buttress surveillance along the country’s western, southern and eastern seaboards, and integrate its coastlines under a single radar system.
The project involves the setting up of 38 additional radar stations and four mobile surveillance stations at Rs 800 crore. It will ensure seamless surveillance of vessels up to 25 nautical miles.
The first phase of the surveillance project comprising 46 radar stations — 36 along the mainland coasts and 10 on the islands — was undertaken soon after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008 which exposed the vulnerability of India’s coastlines to forces inimical to the country’s interests.
The surveillance system also aims at keeping an eye on the movement of vessels of foreign navies venturing close to and inside Indian waters.
The radar system would enable detection and widespread dissemination of information leading to a far more coordinated action. For the first phase, BEL had a raft of joint ventures with foreign defence majors such as Saab (Sweden) and Thales Systems (France).
BEL likely to lead project
Besides the Navy and the Indian Coast Guard, the stakeholders of coastal security at present include the marine police, state police forces, customs, CISF, IB, R&AW and various ports.
A defence ministry source said that state-owned PSU Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) is expected to be the lead integrator for the project that will be taken up under the “Buy Indian” category. The DAC meeting was attended by defence minister Manohar Parrikar and other officials.
