INAUGURATION OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND ANALYSIS CENTRE

The Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar inaugurated the Indian Navy and Coast Guards joint operations facility, called the Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC), at Gurgaon, on November 23, 2014. Set up to provide coastal secu- rity and to avert tragic incidents like the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai, the IMAC is the nodal centre of the National Command Control Communications and Intelligence Network (NC3I Network), and is a joint initiative of the Indian Navy and the Coast Guard along with the Bharat Electronics Ltd to improve coastal surveillance.

Describing it as a bold initiative and a reply of this great nation to the Mumbai attack, Parrikar was candid to admit that the surveillance network has still some gaps which need to be plugged. He said this is an enormous task considering the fact that there are about two to three lakh fishing boats operating in our coastlines and the active cooperation of the state governments is required to achieve one hundred per cent success.

The software has been specially developed by the Indian Navy to amalgamate information from 46 coastal radars, sensors, high-resolution cameras, ship-based radars, airborne surveillance planes, satellites and UAVs. The NC3I network links 51 Naval and Coast Guard stations, located along the coast and on island territories. The network provides these stations coastal surveillance information obtained from various sensors such as the coastal radar chain of the Indian Coast Guard and automatic tracking systems as well as electro-optical cameras.

The entire NC3I Network has been integrated by the Bharat Electronics Limited, Bengaluru. The NC3I Network and IMAC are also linked with the National Maritime Domain Awareness (NMDA) Project.

The Naval Chief Admiral R.K. Dhowan in his opening address said this project will go a long way in beefing up the maritime surveillance, thereby, enhancing the National Maritime Domain Awareness Project.

Amongst others, the function was attended by the Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh, Defence Secretary R.K. Mathur and CMD of Bharat Electronics Limited S.K. Sharma.