The Indian Coast Guard:‘Vayam Rakshamah’

The Indian Coast Guard celebrated its 36th Anniversary on 1st February, 2013. Since its inception, the service has grown into a multi-faceted and vibrant force, maintaining round the clock vigil in the Maritime Zones of India, by deploying its multi-role ships and aircraft.

Beginning with a modest inventory of two frigates seconded from the Indian Navy and five boats from the Customs Department , the service today has attained a force level of 77 ships and 56 aircraft. During the past year, one Pollution Control Vessel, six Inshore Patrol Vessels, four Air Cushion Vessels and two Interceptor Boats have been inducted. In addition to the establishment of a Regional Headquarter (NE) and activation of eight CG Stations, activation / commissioning of three CG Stations has been planned in early 2013.

The Indian Coast Guard today is on the path of rapid expansion, with a large number of state-of-the-art ships, boats and aircraft under construction at various shipyards/ Public Sector units (PSUs), and a Coast Guard Academy to be established in the near future. The Coast Guard organizational structure will have five Regional Headquarters, 12 District Headquarters, 42 Stations and 15 Air Units functioning all along the Indian coast.

On the manpower front, the service has initiated several measures to augment its manpower by introduction of Short Service Appointment (SSA) for women officers in General Duty and General Duty (CPL holders) branches, departmental promotions of outstanding Subordinate Officers and conduct of special recruitments drives.

An average of 20 ships and 8-10 aircraft are tasked daily, to keep the vast Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and coastline under constant surveillance. The Indian Coast Guard has also set up the Coastal Surveillance Network (CSN), that comprise of network of coastal surveillance radars and electro optic sensors at 46 remote sites, including 36 on the main land, six in Lakshadweep Islands and four in Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Regular community interaction programmes are being conducted by Indian Coast Guard in the fishing villages all along the coast. These programmes are aimed at sensitizing the fishing community on the prevailing security situation and to develop them to be the ‘eyes and ears’ for intelligence gathering. In addition, during the past year, the Indian Coast Guard conducted 20 coastal security exercises and 21 coastal security operations.

Maritime Search and Rescue in the Indian Search and Rescue Region is undertaken by the Indian Coast Guard round the clock. Untiring efforts under difficult conditions have resulted in saving of 204 lives in the last year. A total of 30 medical evacuations at sea were also undertaken by the ICG during this period.

The Indian Coast Guard has carved a niche for itself at the International level and is today recognized as the leaders in the region. Institutionalized visits as per Memorandum of Cooperation/Understanding are being conducted regularly. The 12th Indo-Japan Coast Guard High Level Meeting was held in January 2013 at Tokyo, Japan. The 8th Heads of Asian Coast Guard Meeting was held at New Delhi in October 2012. It was of great significance. Since this meeting was held for the first time in India. In addition, Indo-Pak Joint Working Group Meeting was at New Delhi held in July 20 12, for the first time.

The Indian Coast Guard has been expanding and is witnessing all around development, in both capacity and capability. State-of-the-art ships and aircraft manned by competent and professional officers and men take pride in serving the Nation and protecting our maritime domain. The theme of the Indian Coast Guard for the year 2013 is ‘Focused on Maritime Safety and Security’, which aptly reflects the commitment and resolve of the service, and is in tune with its motto ‘Vayam Rakshamah’ meaning ‘We Protect’.
-Hamid Hussain,APRO(Defence)

Dornier-228: A Robust Surveillance Aircraft

India recently handed over a Dornier-228 surveillance aircraft to Seychelles. Manufactured by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), the Dornier-228 has proved itself as a robust surveillance flying machine. HAL manufactures this aircraft under licence agreement with the erstwhile Dornier GmbH of Germany at its Transport Aircraft Division, Kanpur, and has world-wide unfettered sales and marketing rights. Along with the airframe, engines and several of the systems and avionics are also produced in house at various Divisions of HAL ensuring single window life-time support to the customers. The cockpit is designed to accommodate two crew members and is fitted with duplicate controls. The cabin can accommodate 19 passengers in commuter configuration.

HAL-DO-228 owing to its highly efficient design philosophy and world class workmanship has been configured for variety of roles. It can be used as Regional Airliner, Air Taxi, for VIP/Executive Transport, Maritime Surveillance, Reconnaissance, Intelligence warfare and for Troop Transport, Para Jumping, Pollution detection and control, Search and Rescue, Casualty evacuation/Ambulance, Cargo and Logistics Support, Calibration of Airport Nav-aids, Geographical surveys, Aerial photography, Anti-submarine roles and as Observer training. Owing to these features, this aircraft is the proven workhouse of Indian Air Force, Coast Guard and Navy. National Coast Guard of Mauritius also utilizes two HAL supplied DO-228s for surveillance of their coast line and VIP transport.

The versatility of HAL-DO-228s are due to several in-built features-highest fuel carrying capacity in its class (2850 litres) due to integral fuel tanks in wings, low structural weight ensured through use of advanced composite materials, high wing design for unobstructed view and radar coverage, wide wheel base for better stability, short take-off and landing capability. The aircraft can take off from around 700 m and land within 575 m essentially required for operations from short and semi-prepared airfields, sturdy landing gears, rectangular cabin offering more head space for passengers and mounting space for equipment in case of special mission configuration as opposed to circular cabin, low floor level and wide door for easy loading/unloading of cargo, flight openable roller door, four wing hard points for mounting of external loads upto 1030 kg, optimum performance at normal cruising altitude for short haul applications enabled by the revolutionary design of wing aerofoil.
HAL has fitted several role specific equipment on this aircraft to meet the specialized requirement of customers. The maritime aircraft is equipped with combination of 360 deg Surveillance Radar, Forward Looking Infra Red System, Electronic Surveillance Measures System, Pollution Detection and Control Equipment, Satellite Communication, Data Link, Speech Secrecy, Traffic Collision and Avoidance System, Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System and host of other customer specified sensors.

HAL-DO-228 production in India was launched with Vayudoot, the first regional airlines of the country. Vayudoot extensively utilized its fleet of 10 aircraft covering almost all parts of the country and at one point of time achieved highest utilization of DO-228s among all carriers throughout the world. Vayudoot DO-228s were configured to carry 19 passengers as standard fitment, a small galley and functional toilet.

The world over it has been experienced that for a sustainable growth in passenger traffic, development of regional air routes is of paramount importance. Hub and spoke network is an established model wherein the regional traffic is built at selected hubs through regional spokes. The hubs thus created would fall on trunk routes catered by large airlines. The regional routes are best served initially by a smaller turbo-prop aircraft of around 19 seater category.

Regional air routes in India are now again poised for growth. HAL-DO-228s are the ideal aircraft for regional applications supported with previous experience, availability of aircraft and its maintenance infrastructure within the country. Discussions are underway with prospective operators.

To keep the aircraft contemporary with latest technology developments HAL continuously strives through its strong research and design base, to develop and integrate new modifications. The methodology ensures obsolescence free product, ease of maintenance and high serviceability for the operator. The aircraft cockpit is being reconstructed with fully digital glass cockpit and will be on display during Aero India in Bangalore scheduled from 6th–11th Feb 2013. In addition several other modifications like digital auto-pilot, upgraded avionics and other systems are also on the cards.

Fuelled by the growth prospects of this aircraft, HAL has also set eyes on export market. While the full aircraft structures are already being exported to Germany for assembly and supply to world-wide market, efforts are underway to achieve direct exports. The company is making efforts to exploit conducive military markets in Mauritius, Nepal, Vietnam, South Africa, Afghanistan and Columbia. Efforts are also to penetrate civil export markets that are suited for HAL-DO-228s.
-Director (PR), Ministry of Defence.