Terrorist Trend Results In Indian Subsurface Alarm With UAV/SatCom Dependancy

Underwater terrorism is the new worry for the Indian Navy even as it struggles to wriggle out of the Mumbai embarrassment.

The Western and Eastern Commands of the Indian Navy have approached the Defence Development and Research Organisation (DRDO) to rework an old gadget developed during the days of the Kargil tension. The device is an acoustic alarm that sounds in ear-bursting frequencies strong enough to effect a driller-through-the-eardrum feel in any swimming fidayeen or enemy diver. The Navy used an experimental model of this gadget to insulate its aircraft carrier during the Kargil War. The instrument deploys a string of sensors around the ship and is activated when one of them detects a suspicious movement. Sources in the Navy also confirmed that a decision to e-fence all Naval ports has been taken in view of the never-before strategies being innovated by terrorists.

There was an incident reported off Iraq about a midget submarine being used to smuggle a two-man crew into waters where U.S. ships were berthed. Though that mission was not fully successful, some damage was done, unnamed sources said. The DRDO has decided to speed up its Nayan program that is aimed at installing a multi-layer electronic protection along coasts berthing high-value and strategic targets. Nayan will feature seabed sensors that transmit to a land-based control room either through a satellite or a low-cost UAV. The DRDO is trying to set up a central command in Delhi to monitor all major ports. As a first step, the Navy will spread the Nayan cover over its Seabird project in Karwar. The installation at ports will be done only after a new system to regulate traffic at a outer sea choke point is installed, sources said.

(Source: Express Buzz, Manoj K. Das.)