Nearly 10% of mock attacks launched during India’s largest ever coastal security exercise in January 2019 were successful in breaching the multilayered defenses, three officials with knowledge of the matter said on condition of anonymity, reports Hindustan Times on May 8. “It is still possible to sneak in despite a massive infrastructure upgrade,” said one of the officials. The two-day exercise – Operation Sea Vigil – was simultaneously undertaken on the eastern and western coast to check coastal safety measures put into place after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. The officials said small boats, which are less that 20 metres in length, and are yet to get Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) remain a primary cause of concern. An AIS automatically provides information about a vessel to other ships and to coastal authorities. India has about 250,000 such small boats, according to figures available with the Indian Navy. The potential threat from smaller rogue boats is likely to be addressed as a satellite-guided friend or foe identification system of the Indian Space Research Organisation with a two-way messaging system in all local languages is finally ready for induction within the next three or four months. The system was successfully tested on about 1,100 smaller fishing boats in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry recently. “The transponders will be inducted soon,” a second official said. The ill-equipped maritime police forces of coastal states are also a cause of concern for the Indian Navy, which is the lead agency for coastal security. “Serviceability [or availability of boats] is as low as 50%,” said a third official. Only half the boats are available when required and policemen posted to the state maritime police wings get shifted after two to three years. “Sea training starts all over again,” said the second official cited above.The Navy has suggested to state police forces to enlist sailors, who are about to retire, to man their maritime wings. “Instead of training a new batch of policemen every three years, superannuating sailors could be inducted into the state maritime police forces,” the second official said. The third official, who is also involved in analyzing Operation Sea Vigil, blamed lack of adequate training, motivation and non-availability of boats with state maritime police wings for the success of mock attacks.