NEW DELHI, October 3 — The Indian Navy, in operational concert with the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), State Maritime Police forces, Customs, and regional fisheries directorates, on Saturday concluded the fourth edition of the pan-India coastal defence exercise 'Sea Vigil 2026'.
According to the Ministry of Defence, the high-tempo security audit covered the nation's entire 11,098-kilometre coastline (incorporating mainland littorals alongside Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar archipelagos) and the 2.4 million square kilometre Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Naval frontline frigates, patrol crafts, Dornier-228 maritime surveillance sorties, and over 1,000 mechanized fishing boats deployed as auxiliary eyes simulated hostile coastal ingress attempts to stress-test multi-agency emergency communication and interdiction protocols.
Operational integration was monitored centrally at the Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) and the Information Fusion Centre - Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) in Gurugram, verifying real-time tracking from coastal radar chains, Automatic Identification Systems (AIS), and electro-optical surveillance cameras guarding major and non-major port entrances.
India's post-26/11 tri-tier coastal defence architecture (assigning Marine Police out to 12 nautical miles territorial waters, Indian Coast Guard from 12 to 200 nautical miles EEZ, and the Indian Navy exercising overarching maritime command), the institutional role of IMAC and IFC-IOR, the statutory provisions of the Territorial Waters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and other Maritime Zones Act 1976, and maritime border vulnerabilities are vital topics across UPSC Civil Services (GS-III: Internal Security & Border Management) and CDS examinations.