India to watch its entire coastline
The national coastal surveillance system will encompass 74 sensor locations, six regional control centres and three national control centres.
The India Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL) has decided to deploy a coastal surveillance system covering the entire Indian mainland coast, and has looked to a European company to put the scheme into place.
The Swedish based defence and security company Saab, which specialises in Automatic Information Systems (AIS) technology, has been awarded the €12.2m contract.
The national coastal surveillance system will encompass 74 sensor locations, six regional control centres and three national control centres which will identify and track the movements of ships sailing in India’s coastal waters. Each of the sensor sites will be equipped with two AIS base stations to ensure continuous operation should one of them fail for any reason.
This first phase of the work on the Indian coastline is scheduled to be completed in mid-2012 but the contract includes an option to add another 12 sensor sites in the future.
‘This will be one of the largest national AIS based coastal surveillance systems ever to be deployed’, said Gunnar Mangs of Saab’s Security and Defence Solutions department.
Saab is the prime contractor for the project, which includes supply, installation, integration, commissioning, training and technical support. The company will also deliver the network servers and CoastWatch operator software for the control centres. The system is to integrate radar being supplied by another contractor.
More and more nations are deploying AIS based surveillance networks along their coastlines and inland waterways to enhance safety of navigation and national security. Mr Mangs explained that Saab has just supplied some 150 AIS base stations and more than 50 system servers along the historic Beijing-Hangzhou Canal (also known as the Grand Canal) in China, as well as the Heilongjiang, Songhua, tributaries of the Yangtze, Pearl and Huaihe River systems. Saab earlier supplied the AIS network covering China’s coastal waters.
At the end of last year, Saab received a major order from the Romanian Naval Authority to supply 250 inland AIS transponders and 20 portable AIS units.
Saab’s sales and service partner in India, Elcome Marine Services, will play a key role in all aspects of system deployment. Based in Mumbai, Elcome has branch offices in major seaports around the country.
‘The national coastal surveillance network will greatly enhance maritime security and navigation safety in India’s coastal waters, said Captain S S Grewal, managing director at Elcome. ‘We look forward to working closely with Saab to bring this impressive system to completion over the next 18 months.’
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