Indian Navy to conduct pan-India coastal defence exercise 'Sea Vigil-21' from Jan 12

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The Indian Navy will conduct a two-day biennial pan-India coastal defence exercise 'Sea Vigil-21' from Tuesday to review its coastal security preparedness. Billed as India's largest coastal defence exercise, it was first conducted in January 2019.

The exercise will be undertaken along the entire 7516 km coastline and Exclusive Economic Zone of India and involve all the 13 coastal states and union territories along with other maritime stakeholders, including fishing and coastal communities. 

The exercise is being coordinated by the Indian Navy. 

The entire coastal security set-up was reorganised after the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai, which the Pakistan-backed terrorists carried out by the sea route.

"The scale and conceptual expanse of the exercise is unprecedented in terms of the geographical extent, the number of stakeholders involved, the number of participating units, and objectives," the Indian Navy said.

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The exercise is a build-up towards the major Theatre-level Readiness Operational Exercise (TROPEX) which the Navy conducts every two years.

Sea Vigil and TROPEX together will cover the entire spectrum of maritime security challenges, including the transition from peace to conflict.

Assets of the Navy, Coast Guard, Customs, and other maritime agencies will participate in Sea Vigil, the conduct of which is also facilitated by Ministries of defence, home affairs, shipping, petroleum and natural gas, fisheries, state governments and other agencies of the Centre and states.

While smaller scale exercises are conducted in coastal states regularly, including combined exercises among adjoining states, the conduct of a security exercise at the national-level aims to serve a larger purpose.

It provides opportunity, at the apex level, to assess our preparedness in the domain of maritime security and coastal defence.

"Sea Vigil-21 will provide a realistic assessment of our strengths and weaknesses and thus will help in further strengthening maritime and national security," the Navy added.