Panaji: The Indian Navy, in coordination with the Indian Coast Guard and other maritime agencies, is conducting ‘Sea Vigil’, a coastal defence exercise along the Goa coast, till Nov 19. The exercise is designed to assess coastal security preparedness, strengthen coordination among agencies, and test responses to potential maritime threats.The exercise is being conducted in two phases. The first phase, the coastal defence readiness evaluation, runs until Nov 17 and involves a security analysis and evaluation of coastal security agencies and mechanisms. Two audit teams — one for North Goa and one for South Goa — will visit critical locations such as fish landing jetties, coastal police stations, major and minor ports, and select beaches to assess readiness and infrastructure.The second phase is the tactical exercise, which will involve deploying maritime assets across participating agencies. A ‘red force’ will act as the aggressor to simulate an attack on Goa, while a ‘blue force’ will work to prevent the attack and apprehend the attackers. As part of the simulated terror infiltration and attack, the ‘red force’ will attempt to capture a fishing vessel, land terrorists to carry out covert attacks on land assets, or hijack merchant ships.Ahead of the biennial exercise, the final planning conference was held under the aegis of the Goa Naval Area at INS Gomantak, Vasco. Stakeholders from the Indian Coast Guard, coastal police, Mormugao Port Authority, Intelligence Bureau, CISF, customs, fisheries, captain of ports and the NCC attended the meeting.“Sea Vigil aims to activate the coastal defense apparatus along the coastline together and test or assess the coastal defense mechanism. It is a build-up to the national-level defense exercise that the Indian Navy conducts, called TROPEX. It is a theatre-level operational exercise,” said Capt James John, adding that the Indian Navy is the lead agency for Sea Vigil.He said lessons from the exercise will be studied, with highlighted issues addressed and capabilities strengthened. “We believe that collaboration is the most important thing in these exercises,” he said.
