Indian Military

New Delhi — Indian Coast Guard  [CG] Director General Vice Admiral Anil Chopra has announced that a new modernization plan has been approved by the government to  induct state-of-art ships and aircraft  professional manpower

He said Last year, eight ships were commissioned into the service, and three more are expected to be inducted by Mar 2011.
The service is expected to achieve an effective strength of about 200 surface platforms and 100 aircraft by 2018, which is clearly indicative of the emergence of a new, modern and far more capable Coast Guard.

On the infrastructure front too, one District Headquarters, five CG stations and one air enclave have been established during 2010, and two more stations and a Regional Headquarters at Kolkata are being established by Mar 2011, he added. By the end of 2012, there will be a total of 42 CG Stations, 05 Air Stations and 10 Air Enclaves functioning from various locations along the coast.

As far as manpower is concerned, through concerted efforts and planning, the Coast Guard has increased its sanctioned strength by about 1200 personnel during the year gone by.

India has given to Seychelles a Dornier maritime reconnaissance aircraft for surveillance and anti-piracy missions in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR)that is plagued by piracy threats in and around the Gulf of Aden.

The fixed-wing aircraft will start its surveillance operation in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Seychelles from this week, official sources said. The aircraft was delivered six months after Defense Minister A.K. Antony, on a two-day trip to Seychelles in July, agreed to provide a Dornier and two Chetak helicopters to the archipelago nation.

This was to help the country to carry out aerial surveillance in its EEZ, the sources said.

India has also stepped up the visits of its warships to the region to help in anti-piracy operations against Somali and other mercenary pirates. Seychelles President James Alix Michel was in India for a 2-day visit earlier this month, accompanied by Foreign Minister Jean Paul Adam.

The president met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who, in 2008, announced a $5 million assistance for defence related projects for Seychelles.

The Indian Defense Minister AK Antony, on Monday, agreed to provide three aircraft to Seychelles on its request. An Indian Ministry of Defense statement said, “On a specific request from the Seychelles, Mr. Antony agreed to provide one new Dornier and two Chetak helicopters from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for maritime surveillance, at the earliest.” The statement quoted him as saying that although delivery would normally take 18 to 24 months, New Delhi would try to provide the aircraft in 15 months. In the meantime, India is to provide an in-service Dornier Aircraft to carry out maritime surveillance. This comes after Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh committed $ 5 million assistance to Seychelles for defense-related projects during the visit of Seychellois President James Alix Michel to India earlier.

Antony met President Michel, Vice President Danny Faure, the Minister for Home Affairs Joel Morgan and Foreign Minister Jean Paul Adam in Mahe, while leading a delegation comprising Defense Secretary Pradeep Kumar and the Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral DK Dewan.