Introduction:
India is one of the countries in the world having a very large coastline. With the large Indian Ocean towards the south, the Bay of Bengal in the east and the Arabian Sea in the west, India is an important player in the Indo-Pacific region and is also the net security provider in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). There are many strategic national infrastructure assets located near our coastlines like ports, container terminals, oil refineries, etc. which contribute towards the economy. At the same time, it also has various defense and research-based infrastructure like Missile testing ranges, Space Research facilities, naval bases, etc. which are necessary for India's security needs. With the increasing Chinese activities in the Indian Ocean, it's very important to give attention towards India's coastline security. Hence, it's necessary to ensure that India's large coastlines serve to enhance our economy, promote trade and cooperation with our friendly neighborhood countries, and at the same time, ensure that its vast areas are well protected by the highest possible defense practices to ensure India's national security. This article will evaluate the possible threats to our economic and security infrastructure along our coastlines.
Energy Based Infrastructures:
Indian coastlines contain a large number of oil refineries and petrochemical industries which are of vital importance. For example, the SEZ of Gujarat in the western part of the country contains multiple oil refineries which extract the usable products from the crude oil. These entire energy-based infrastructure are critical for the Indian economy because India is the 3rd largest oil consumer of the world 1. India imports nearly 80% of its oil from abroad via the sea routes, mainly from the gulf nations like Saudi Arabia and Iran 2. Additionally, not just the coastline, India also has various offshore drilling sites in the sea near the coastlines like the ONGC operated Bombay High. All these energy infrastructures are critical and are of strategic value to our economy. And hence they also face major threats from our adversaries. With the advancement in modern warfare, the threat of drones, loitering munitions, missile strikes etc. have become very real. The Houthi attacks on Saudi Aramco's oil processing facilities in the year 2020 and latest drone attacks on Aramco infrastructure is a grim reminder of what could be a real threat to our energy-based infrastructure situated along our coastlines 3. What is more worrying is the proximity of India's arch enemy state Pakistan very close to our Gujarat coastlines where these critical infrastructures are situated. In a realistic threat scenario, these energy-based infrastructures can be damaged by ship or land missile strikes, armed drone missile strikes as well by the newly developed lethal loitering munitions our Indian security establishments witnessed during the Jammu air base attacks in the year 2021 when two explosive laden drones crashed into the technical area of IAF station at Jammu Airport 4. If we talk about the offshore drilling sites of ONGC, since it's located in the sea, and if any non-state actors use missiles to strike this facility, then it will be very disastrous as the rescue and repair operations will take more time because it's situated in the middle of the sea. Nowadays the development of long endurance drones with long range precision missiles can pose a serious threat to this type of offshore drilling facilities. The deepening collaboration of Pakistani and Chinese navies and the increasing footprints of Chinese naval activities in the Indian Ocean is a matter of serious concern. The development of Gwadar port by the Chinese as part of the CPEC project in the province of Pakistan has been a serious security threat for India since the last few years. If the Gwadar port becomes fully operational, then Chinese naval ships will regularly dock there and then use advanced surveillance methods to keep a track on the long western coastline of India. The concept of surveillance can be achieved both via the aerial mode by using drones or by the use of underwater vehicles. China has been reported to be using various kinds of underwater vehicles and drones to study and carry out surveillance work in the Indian Ocean 5. In future, they can pose a serious threat to these Energy infrastructures because the maintenance of energy supplies becomes vital not just only in peacetime, but also during times of conflict too.
Ship-Building Infrastructures:
The Indian shipbuilding industry consists of 27 Shipbuilding yards where 8 are state and central government owned and the rest 19 are private sector yards 6. These shipyards have helped us build not just naval and coast guard ships but also India's first indigenously designed and developed nuclear powered submarine (SSBN) INS Arihant. In fact, India is only the 6th country in the world to design, develop and operate a nuclear-powered submarine indigenously. Not only this, India also builds ships for the mercantile sector of transportation, delivery of goods, etc. India has in the past exported a few small vessels. All this points to the importance of our shipbuilding industry not just for the defense of our country but also from an economic perspective. When India built its first indigenous Aircraft carrier (IAC 1) INS Vikrant, it became one of the few countries in the world to achieve this capability. But after the sea trials of INS Vikrant were launched, the Cochin Shipyard Limited where IAC 1 was constructed received a bomb threat which was meant to damage INS Vikrant. This was a serious threat to not just the Ship but also to the Cochin Shipyard Limited 7. Due to the geopolitical challenges, the safety and protection of our shipbuilding industry is of paramount importance. With the growing Chinese activities in the IOR, there is a need to speed up the production of our ships, destroyers, submarines etc. which may take on the activities of the Chinese navy. And any kind of destructive activities or damage to our shipbuilding industries by either any state or non-state actors may set back the growth of our navy by many years.
Trade and Tourism Based Infrastructures:
India has trade relations with many countries around the world. In fact, most of India's imports and exports depend vastly on sea-based trade. Nearly 95% of trade by volume and 70% by value is done through various ports and container terminals situated all along the Indian coastlines 8. These ports form an important critical economic asset for the growth of our economy. Our trade relations with many countries depend on these ports. There are around 13 major important ports in India, 12 being owned by the government and 1 private 9. The JNPT is the largest container terminal of India which handles maximum traffic each day. These ports handle not just commercial products, but also various critical strategic products and items of national importance. The import of various defense related items is also done via these ports. The threats to these ports vary from terrorist attacks to cyber-attacks. In February 2022, JNPT was suspected to be affected by a cyber-attack when it's Management Information System (MIS) was affected by some hackers. Due to this attack one vessel was diverted to another terminal and the operations were affected 10. This shows that nowadays even ports are vulnerable to cyber-attacks to disrupt its activities. Similarly, there is also the threat of illegal destructive materials being transferred or transported from these terminals which can be dangerous. The Beirut port explosion in Lebanon which destroyed so many lives and caused property damage in the year 2020 is a live example of how illegal explosive substances like Ammonium nitrate which were stored near the warehouse of the ports caused huge destruction across the city 11. The threat of proliferation also remains an issue because two of our neighbors China and Pakistan, jointly collaborate to share critical technology and materials among themselves, and the use of Indian ports to transfer the materials is a concern. This is supported by the fact that in the year 2020, a Chinese merchant vessel named "Da Cui Yun", which was Karachi bound, was caught by Indian customs officials. It was allegedly carrying an autoclave and mis-declaring it. It was suspected that this autoclave is of dual use nature and can be used as an element in making a Ballistic Missile. The DRDO then initiated an investigation to study more about this autoclave 12. The ports are also vulnerable to Narco trade where drugs and other banned substances are being pushed into the country.
On the other hand, since India is blessed with a large coastline area, this also promotes tourism-based activities. India has many sunny beaches where both domestic and international tourists visit round the year. All these crowded places can attract the attention of terror activities just like what we witnessed in 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Terrorist mainly look out for locations which are filled with crowd to cause mass casualty and destruction. Many terror attacks have happened in other countries where people were enjoying carnivals and festivals. Since Goa is a popular tourist attraction for parties and carnivals, this can be a soft target for terrorists. Tourism is an important sector for India's economy. If any attacks happen in these coastline areas, then it will be a blow to our tourism sector. The 26/11 Mumbai attacks happened via the sea route. Our enemy state Pakistan can plan and execute a similar type of attack via sea routes in future.
Defence & Research Based Infrastructures:
Indian coastlines play an important role in defense related activities. Indian coastlines contain many naval bases, missile testing sites like Integrated Testing Range (ITR), Radar facilities, naval aircraft ski-jump facility, Space Launch and tracking assets etc. Any defense research activities and it's validation like firing of Cruise Missiles, Ballistic Missile, Torpedoes, etc. can only be carried out away from the areas of human population. The vicinity of large seas provides ample opportunities to conduct above mentioned activities because there is no danger to any human population. Today India is being acknowledged globally as a missile Power. All these Missile testing, developments and validation couldn't have been imagined without the facilities of Abdul Kalam Island in Balasore. Further, it was the same Abdul Kalam Island from where India tested it's Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile test in the year 2019 under "Mission Shakti '' to become a space power and becoming only the 4th nation in the world capable of destroying satellites in outer space. Hence, it's natural that our adversaries may try to create threats and damage the infrastructure at this important strategic island to prevent our successful March of missile development and ASAT weapons indigenously. According to some media sources, in the year 2019, it was reported that Chinese workers of a non- Chinese company in Orissa were trying to spy on Wheeler Island 13. These espionage activities by our enemies can prove to be seriously dangerous for the defense of India. They can try to gather intelligence and information related to the inner workings of this facility and other valuable information. These intruders mostly come from the Bangladesh coast because it's easy and nearby to our Eastern coasts. In the year 2001, a transmission center was set up in the coastal area of Banipal in Orissa. Later during investigation, it was found out that defense related data of APJ Abdul Kalam Island was being transmitted abroad through this transmission center 14. This was another serious issue where this data could have been sent to enemical forces. Similar threats are also expected in the various ISRO facilities near the coast of Thiruvananthapuram which houses some of the satellite tracking, remote sensing and telemetry elements of space launches.
Current Coastal Security Initiatives:
Currently, the government has undertaken several initiatives for coastal security like-
i) National Committee For Strengthening Maritime and Coastal Security (NCSMCS) has been set up headed by cabinet secretary to coordinate all Coastal and Maritime security matters 15.
ii) Under the Coastal Security Scheme, 2005 (CSS), Marine Police Force has been raised for patrolling and surveillance.
iii) Coastal Security Architecture Layer has been strengthened with addition of elements of NSG and National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID).
iv) National Command Control Communication And Intelligence System (NC3I) has been strengthened with the establishment of Information Management Analysis Center (IMAC). In 2018, the Information Fusion Center- Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) was established to monitor maritime traffic in the Indian Ocean Region 16.
v) Coastal Surveillance System (CSN) has been progressing with the phase I achieving setting up of Chain or Radars, Automatic Identification Systems (AIS), Met Sensors at 46 locations along the coastline and islands. The second phase aims to achieve complete surveillance by setting up 38 additional Radar stations and 8 mobile surveillance systems 17.
vi) India is set to join the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness program, announced in QUAD Leaders meet in May 2022. This will lead to sharing of Satellite Data to detect illegal activities like illegal fishing, smuggling, or piracy in IOR. The data of suspicious vessel movements will be made available to the Information Fusion Center of Indian Navy in Gurugram 18.
Few Recommendations:
i) Anti-drone capabilities need to be enhanced and strengthened around our energy infrastructures near the coastal areas. Most of our major refineries currently are not equipped to handle any kind of missile or 'Kamikaze' attacks from drones. The CISF near our major oil installations needs to be given proper training on how to detect and engage such drones. They can be adequately provided with systems like Israeli origin 'SMASH-2000' anti-drone systems 19 or any other such indigenous variants. Drones can fire low flying cruise missiles which can be lethal. They can be only countered using effective anti-missile systems. Directed Energy systems can also be used to tackle such attacks. The offshore drilling rigs can be provided with a protective layer of missile approaching radars to detect any missile launched towards it and counter it. Additionally, more numbers of Naval Rotary Unmanned Aerial Vehicles can be used for 24×7 surveillance.
ii) The concept of 'Underwater Domain Awareness' to be implemented rigorously, especially in our Territorial waters and Exclusive Economic Zones. The underwater drone threat detection and countering abilities of our Naval forces are at a very nascent stage at present. The process of manufacturing Marine Underwater Systems (MUS) is still currently in the research and development stage and very slow, which needs to be sped up. Consequently, the sea trials of such systems to be completed in short time and deployed rapidly in large numbers keeping in mind the growing Chinese underwater activities. Similarly, sea surface surveillance can be achieved in an economical way by developing 'Wave gliders' which travel with the help of underwater fins and solar panels 20. Private sector industries like L&T and New Space Technologies are leading from the front in development of such systems and they should be encouraged with more incentives like PLI schemes, assured orders from the Indian Navy for their platforms, relaxation in corporate taxes for sale of such Defence products etc.
iii) Security of Vital Areas like Ship Building Yards, Naval Bases, Missile testing sites, etc. near the coastal zones needs effective coordination between the center, state and local administrations. The lack of coordination among the agencies and inadequate marine police manpower needs to be eradicated. Dedicated and Defence career oriented responsible communities residing near these coastal areas can be given an opportunity to better contribute towards coastal security practices by providing them with best practices like how to operate surveillance drones including during nighttime with night vision capabilities. Dedicated Control rooms can be set up where the surveillance drones relaying the live video feeds of these vital areas can be done 24×7 throughout the year and local enthusiastic youths, like children of poor fishermen who are academically qualified should be given jobs as operators in such control stations after proper training to generate employment opportunities for such coastal communities. Specially trained local spies and intelligence gathering Personal should be deployed at all major vital points to detect any unlawful or terrorist activities like planting of bombs, IEDs etc. Coastal Indian Reserve Battalions (CIRB) should be deployed in adequate numbers in such areas.
iv) Port operations should be upgraded with effective Cyber Security solutions to thwart any major cyber-attack from any foreign adversaries. All the major ports, including public and private, should be connected with a dedicated cyber command from a central Nodal Agency to monitor 24×7 cyber intrusions. To avoid any incident like the Beirut Port Explosion, a dedicated very large docking space should be created in every major port in the country, away from the mainland, where the cargoes and containers of the ships should be first thoroughly checked by bomb detection squads, sniffer dogs, customs officials etc., before they can be unloaded in the mainland port area.
v) All our current popular crowded beaches entry and exit points are unmanned. To avoid any terror events, each and every major beaches should have dedicated manned entry and exit points with metal detectors, scanners etc. Quick Reaction Teams to deal with terror activities should be deployed at all major popular beaches. Keeping in mind the current Economic crisis in Sri Lanka, and illegal migrants from Bangladesh towards our Eastern Coast, High Speed Patrol Boats should be used in large numbers in the Sundarbans areas as well as our Southern Coasts near Rameshwaram to detect any anti-national intrusions and activities like narco trade, illegal arms transfer, fake currency etc. because traditionally we have focused too much towards our western neighborhood.
Conclusion:
As observed by the above brief analysis, India's coastline has a huge role to play both in our economic development as well as national security. Therefore, it's of utmost importance to come up with innovative security solutions to face the challenges of our evolving coastal security threats.
Endnotes:
1 PIB Delhi, “India has been ranked third largest Primary Energy Consumer in the World”, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas Govt. Of India, 24 March 2022, https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1809204
2 “India’s oil imports hit record high in January “Energy World, 15 February 2018, https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/oil-and-gas/indias-oil-imports-hit-record-high-in-january/62940404
3 Aziz El Yaakoubi, Maha El Dahan,"Saudi Aramco petroleum storage site hit by Houthi attack, fire erupts". Reuters. 26 March 2022, https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-air-defences-destroy-houthi-drones-state-tv-2022-03-25/
4 Dinakar Peri, "Army to use jammers to protect forward bases from drone attacks”, The Hindu, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/army-to-use-jammers-to-protect-forward-bases-from-drone-attacks/article35496241.ece
5 IMR Reporter, “China deploys underwater drones in Indian Ocean”, Indian Military Review, 1 January 2021, https://imrmedia.in/china-deploys-underwater-drones-in-indian-ocean/
6 “Indian Shipbuilding”, Global Security, n.d, https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/india/shipbuilding.htm
7 “Bomb threat to indigenous aircraft carrier under Cochin Shipyard: Police register cases registered under cyber terrorism”, The Hindu, 6 September 2021, https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/bomb-threat-to-indigenous-aircraft-carrier-under-cochin-shipyard-police-register-cases-registered-under-cyber-terrorism/article36319955.ece
8 PIB Delhi, “India's Major Ports achieve Record-Breaking Milestones in FY 2022-23, Boosting Trade and Economic Growth – Shri. Sarbananda Sonowal”, Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways Govt. of India, https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1920518
9 “List of Ports in India”, Wikipedia, 1 September 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ports_in_India,
10 P. Manoj, “Suspected cyber-attack cripples box terminal run by Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority", Business Line, 22 February 2022, https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/logistics/suspected-cyber-attack-cripples-box-terminal-run-by-jawaharlal-nehru-port-authority/article65073293.ece
11 A.P, "Ammonium nitrate confiscated from a cargo ship likely fueled Beirut explosion”, Economic Times, 5 August 2020, https://m.economictimes.com/news/international/world-news/ammonium-nitrate-confiscated-from-a-cargo-ship-likely-fueled-beirut-explosion/articleshow/77377408.cms
12 "NIA starts probe into Chinese ship in Gujarat", The Tribune, 21 September 2021, https://m.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/nia-starts-probe-into-chinese-ship-in-gujarat-313946
13 Manish Shukla, "Chinese spies establish footholds near INS Kadamba naval base, APJ Abdul Kalam Island", Zee News India, 26 March 2019, https://zeenews.india.com/india/chinese-spies-establish-footholds-near-ins-kadamba-naval-base-apj-abdul-kalam-island-2190388.html
14 "Infiltration puts coastal security at risk; CIRB proposal in cold store", n.d, Orissa Post, https://www.orissapost.com/infiltration-puts-coastal-security-at-risk-cirb-proposal-in-cold-store/amp/
15 PIB Delhi, “Measures to Enhance Coastal Security”, Ministry of Defence Govt. of India, 5 March 2018, https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1522507
16 PIB Delhi, “Initiatives to strengthen Coastal security”, Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India, 25 November 2014, https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=111871
17 Ibid.
18 Ravi Buddhavarapu, "The Quad’s new maritime initiative has potential to spur militarization of the Indo-Pacific", CNBC LLC, 8 June 2022, https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/09/quads-maritime-initiative-could-spur-militarization-of-indo-pacific.html
19 Snehesh Alex Phillips, “Navy orders Israeli SMASH 2000 Plus Systems to tackle drones, more contracts in offing, The Print, 8 December 2020, https://theprint.in/defence/navy-orders-israeli-smash-2000-plus-systems-to-tackle-drones-more-contracts-in-offing/562955/
20 “Wave Glider: Scalable and persistent monitoring for intelligent situational awareness,” Boeing, n.d, https://www.boeing.com/defense/autonomous-systems/wave-glider/index.page
