Indian Navy to kick-start second edition of coastal defence exercise 'Sea Vigil' on Tuesday

The second edition of the biennial pan-India coastal defence exercise 'Sea Vigil-21' will be conducted on January 12-13, with the aim to assess country's preparedness in the domain of maritime security and coastal defence, Indian Navy informed on Monday.

The exercise will be undertaken along the entire 7,516 kilometres coastline and Exclusive Economic Zone of India and will involve all the 13 coastal states and Union Territories along with other maritime stakeholders, including the fishing and coastal communities, according to an official release.

As per the release, the entire coastal security set up was reorgsed after the 26/11 Terror attack at Mumbai which was launched via the sea route.

Navy said that the scale and conceptual expanse of the exercise is unprecedented in terms of the geographical extent, the number of stakeholders involved, the number of units participating and in terms of the objectives to be met.

"The exercise is a build-up towards the major Theatre level exercise TROPEX [Theatre-level Readiness Operational Exercise] which the Indian 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," the release said.

Assets of the Indian Navy, Coast Guard, Customs and other maritime agencies will participate in SEA VIGIL.

"It provides opportunity, at the apex level, to assess our preparedness in the domain of maritime security and coastal defence. Exercise '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 release further said.

The inaugural edition of this exercise was conducted in January 2019.

( With inputs from ANI )