India’s new Navy-CG Joint Operations Centre commissioned

India has opened the new Navy and Coast Guard’s (ICG) joint operations facility, dubbed the Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC), at Gurgaon, as part of efforts to bolster coastal security.

Established as a joint initiative of the Indian Navy, Coast Guard and Bharat Electronics, IMAC is the nodal centre of the National Command Control Communications and Intelligence Network (NC3I Network).

Seeking navy to keep an eye on invasions by neighbours, Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said: "We do not want to be offensive but we must be strong enough to deter our enemies from casting an evil eye upon us."

Connecting all the 51 Naval and Coast Guard stations along the coast and on island territories, the new NC3I network offers them with coastal surveillance data gained from a range of sensors including coastal radar chain of the ICG and automatic tracking systems and electro-optical cameras.

The network relies on terrestrial data circuits and satellite communication, which assists linking the stations in remote locations.

The IMAC aggregates and correlates data from various sensors and databases and then distributes to several stations for improved awareness.

The coastal surveillance software integrates data fusion, correlation and decision support features, which would facilitate enhanced decision making.

Construction on the new centre started in October 2012, after the project was sanctioned in March 2012 and had been completed in January.

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Image: During the inaugration of the new Navy-CG Joint Operations Centre. Photo: courtesy of Indian Navy.