Invincible INDIAN
FULL MEMBER
- Joined
- May 18, 2011
- Messages
- 1,166
- Reaction score
- -1
BSF to get fast attack craft to patrol Sir Creek
RANN OF KUTCH (Gujarat): The Border Security Force (BSF) is set to beef up patrolling in the treacherous creeks in Gujarat's Rann of Kutch on the India-Pakistan border with the help of fast attack craft (FAC).
Currently, speed boats and mechanized crafts are used by the BSF's water wing to patrol the creeks of the Rann of Kutch criss-crossing through 4,050 sq km. The creeks are navigable only by boats but their movement is dependent on the water level. During high tide, when water gushes in from the Arabian Sea, BSF sends out its patrol boats to the network of creeks branching out from Sir Creek, a tributary of the Indus river, and the ****** Nala.
However, given the strategic location of the creeks, rich in hydrocarbons, minerals and fish, the BSF felt the need for a faster response time, said a senior officer posted in the area.
Early this month, BSF received an input that a group of men in boats were trying to cross into India from Pakistan in boats. Though unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were mounted for surveillance soon after, the BSF, which has three battalions to man the creeks, could send out a patrol only a day later. An extensive four-day operation followed and the input was found to be a false alarm.
"But it proved to us that we did not have the infrastructure to surmount the problems posed by nature in this area,'' a BSF officer said.
The fast attack crafts are expected to be a step ahead as it can operate in shallow water, too.
"We will soon induct four US-made fast attack crafts," said A K Sinha, IG, BSF (Gujarat Frontier). The bullet-proof FACs move at twice the speed of existing speed boats and are fitted with arms. This will boost surveillance in the vast uninhabited salt marshes. If UAVs pick up any suspicious movement, the FACs can respond faster.
The BSF, which coordinates between 15 security and intelligence agencies operating in the Rann area, will also have more all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) to patrol the vast and inaccessible marshes of the Rann.
Though inaccessible, the Rann has immense strategic importance. A dispute over the India-Pakistan international border in Sir Creek triggered the first war between the two neighbours outside Jammu and Kashmir. Till today, the dispute over about 104 km in this area remains unresolved, making it an overly sensitive zone.
BSF to get fast attack craft to patrol Sir Creek - The Times of India
RANN OF KUTCH (Gujarat): The Border Security Force (BSF) is set to beef up patrolling in the treacherous creeks in Gujarat's Rann of Kutch on the India-Pakistan border with the help of fast attack craft (FAC).
Currently, speed boats and mechanized crafts are used by the BSF's water wing to patrol the creeks of the Rann of Kutch criss-crossing through 4,050 sq km. The creeks are navigable only by boats but their movement is dependent on the water level. During high tide, when water gushes in from the Arabian Sea, BSF sends out its patrol boats to the network of creeks branching out from Sir Creek, a tributary of the Indus river, and the ****** Nala.
However, given the strategic location of the creeks, rich in hydrocarbons, minerals and fish, the BSF felt the need for a faster response time, said a senior officer posted in the area.
Early this month, BSF received an input that a group of men in boats were trying to cross into India from Pakistan in boats. Though unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were mounted for surveillance soon after, the BSF, which has three battalions to man the creeks, could send out a patrol only a day later. An extensive four-day operation followed and the input was found to be a false alarm.
"But it proved to us that we did not have the infrastructure to surmount the problems posed by nature in this area,'' a BSF officer said.
The fast attack crafts are expected to be a step ahead as it can operate in shallow water, too.
"We will soon induct four US-made fast attack crafts," said A K Sinha, IG, BSF (Gujarat Frontier). The bullet-proof FACs move at twice the speed of existing speed boats and are fitted with arms. This will boost surveillance in the vast uninhabited salt marshes. If UAVs pick up any suspicious movement, the FACs can respond faster.
The BSF, which coordinates between 15 security and intelligence agencies operating in the Rann area, will also have more all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) to patrol the vast and inaccessible marshes of the Rann.
Though inaccessible, the Rann has immense strategic importance. A dispute over the India-Pakistan international border in Sir Creek triggered the first war between the two neighbours outside Jammu and Kashmir. Till today, the dispute over about 104 km in this area remains unresolved, making it an overly sensitive zone.
BSF to get fast attack craft to patrol Sir Creek - The Times of India
