Defence ministry official flags maritime risks amid West Asia crisis

Panaji: The West Asia crisis and mounting anxieties over the opening of the Strait of Hormuz have shattered the assumptions underpinning India’s maritime security, a senior ministry of defence official said on Saturday at Vasco.

“The new world order is such that there is no order today,” said A. Anbarasu, additional secretary and director general (acquisition) with the ministry of defence. “That is the kind of situation which we are experiencing, which was not the case a few months back.”

Anbarasu was speaking at the commissioning of ICGS Achal, the latest Adamya-class fast patrol vessel, at Goa Shipyard Limited.

The Coast Guard formally inducted the ICGS Achal, and the vessel will be based at Vadinar, Gujarat, operating under the North West region of the Coast Guard command. The region is focused on the western maritime frontier on the border with Pakistan, an equally volatile sector that is close to global shipping lanes critical to India’s maritime security.

The ministry of defence official described the task of securing India’s 11,000-kilometre coastline and a 2-million-square-kilometre exclusive economic zone as “formidable.” The Coast Guard’s mandate encompasses surveillance, law enforcement, fishermen protection, anti-smuggling and anti-piracy operations, and marine environment preservation.

“The ministry of defence remains fully committed to supporting the Coast Guard in force augmentation, workforce accretion and infrastructure development. I have been nudging the Coast Guard to come up with proposals to the defence procurement board so that we will be able to deliver the requirements of the Indian Coast Guard without any further delay,” said Anbarasu.

Built entirely at Goa Shipyard Limited, Achal is powered by twin 3,000-kW advanced diesel engines and can achieve 27 knots and sustain operations over 1,500 nautical miles. Indigenously developed controllable pitch propellers and high-precision gearboxes give the ship manoeuvrability across varying sea states, said GSL officials.

The vessel packs a 30 mm CRN-91 gun and two 12.7 mm stabilised remote-controlled guns. An integrated bridge system, integrated machinery control system and automated power management system collectively sharpen situational awareness and operational efficiency.

Inspector general Tekur Sashi Kumar, commander, Coast Guard Region (North West), highlighted the high-tempo operations that are undertaken along the India-Pakistan border, pointing to drug trafficking and smuggling as key challenges that the force encounters regularly.