Fast craft feature prominently in India’s coastal security plan


In the aſtermath of the 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008, carried out by a group of terrorists who infiltrated into India’s largest city from the sea, the Indian Government announced ambitious plans for a multi-layered coastal maritime security plan.


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omewhat unusually, the Indian Navy, rather than the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) was made responsible for


overall command and control within the coastal maritime security plan, which is part of a larger National Maritime Domain Awareness Project. Phase I of the coastal security plan


envisages a three-pronged approach – building up infrastructure; acquisition of platforms for surveillance and patrol by various maritime security agencies including coastal police forces, the Coast Guard and the Navy; and developing a command and control system known as the National Command Control Communication and Intelligence (NC3IN) to link 51 nodes in the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard. Infrastructure developments include the


establishment of a coastal radar surveillance network,


and a chain of automatic


identification system (AIS) stations along India’s 7500km coastline. Issuing identity cards to fishermen as well as registering all boats and issuing AIS transponders are key elements of the plan. Platform acquisition has focused on a large number of interceptor craſt, patrol vessels, offshore patrol vessels (OPV), aircraſt, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles. Tree years later, in spite of efforts to create


an effective coastal security network, several of these projects – such as the radar and AIS networks – are not yet fully operational. However, significant progress on the platform acquisition side has been made, and various coastal police forces have been bolstered with some 204 small interceptor craſt purchased by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Tese are license built Motomarine 5tonne, 9.5m and 12tonne, 13.8m craſt from Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) and Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL). The 9.5m-long craft, with full-load


Warship Technology January 2012


Cochin Shipyard is building these FPVs as part of the coastal security plan.


displacement of around 5.4tonnes, are fitted with two Mercury Marine Verado 275bhp outboard motors for a top speed of 35knots and a range of 75nm at 25knots with four crew and 10 passengers. Tey have an enclosed wheelhouse with ballistic protection. Tey are not fitted with radars but are equipped with VHF radios. Tey have a pedestal for a light machinegun and can sustain operations in Sea State 2. The 13m-long craft have a full-load


displacement of less than 12tonnes and have an enclosed wheelhouse with ballistic protection. Fitted with two Hamilton HJ 292 waterjets driven by two turbocharged Cummins QSC 8.3-500 INT engines through ZF 286 gearboxes, their top speed is 35knots. Range is 75nm at 25knots with four crew and 16 passengers. Te craſt are fitted with radar and a GPS system from Northstar. Tey have a pedestal for a light machinegun and can sustain operations in Sea State 3. Deliveries of the Motomarine craſt are largely complete, but logistic issues continue


to hobble their effective utilisation. A second tranche of 180 interceptors for coastal police forces is planned for Phase II of the Coastal Security Plan. Te ICG will almost triple in size over


the next decade or so. The bulk of new acquisitions for the service are 26-28m class interceptor craft as well as smaller interceptor/patrol boats along with 50m patrol vessels. In addition, six large OPV and 12 Griffon hovercraſt are on order. Another seven OPVs were due to be ordered from the lowest bidder but the order is being rebid due to some procedural irregularities. Notably, a significant portion of these orders have been placed with privately owned shipyards instead of state yards as was the norm prior to a concerted effort to open up naval shipbuilding to the private sector. ABG Shipyard recently completed an


order for 11 28m class interceptor craſt to a Tornycroſt design. Tey are an evolution of an earlier 26m design by Australian naval architect, Gavin Mair – two of which were


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