A new high-speed inceptor ship C-162 built by Bharati Defence And Infrastructure Limited (BDIL) formerly known as Bharati Shipyard Ltd has been handed over to the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) at its to dock in Mangaluru, Karnataka. The C-16 class interceptor ship will do the patrolling at its home port, Kochi.
All the vessels in the series come with an aluminum hull, having a length close to of 28 meters, with a beam of 6 meters and draught of 1.2 meters. However, compared to the older Bharati-class interceptors, which come with twin MTU Caterpillar engines having a capacity of 1630 kW each, the new C-162 houses new generation Arneson Surface Drive (ASD) propulsion system, which is propelled by two engines of 1650 kW each and is capable of reaching speeds up to 35 knots.
The new C-164 is the sixth of the series of such interceptor boats delivered by BDIL. Others include C-154, C-155, C-156, C-158, and C-161. So far, BDIL has delivered 20 of the ships in various series to the ICG.
Coast Guard principal director DIG H P Singh, DIG Atul Parlikar, BDIL chief operating officer Narendra Kumar, BDIL president and Head Pavithran Alokkan, general manager Mahesh and other senior officials were present on the C-162 hand-over ceremony, a Coast Guard press release said.
The new C-164 patrol cruise can accommodate 11 crew members and Deputy commandant Pawan Koyar will be its commanding officer.
Ever since the devastating November 26, 2008 Mumbai attack, Indian government has intensified coastal patrolling across the vast coastline of 7,516.6 km (4,671 mi) stretching from Gujarat (Arabian sea) in the west to the southern tip Kanyakumari (Indian Ocean ) and from there, to the West Bengal (Bay of Bengal).
After receiving more patrolling ships and infrastructure, ICG was able to stop another 26/11-like attack in late January. A suspicious 'suspicious' Pakistani fishing vessel way passed the 'Sir Creek' area was detected in the Arabian Sea, about 365 km from Porbandar, Gujarat, and when told to stop for inspection, the crew understood of consisting four members set the boat ablaze and killed in action.
Since then, there have been many instances of ICG stopping terror attacks and also made major drug busts in the coastal regions.
