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Information Management and Analysis Centre of Indian Navy will soon become a National Maritime Domain Awareness (NDMA) centre
About Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC)
- It is the nodal agency for maritime data fusion set up after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks
- As per the Navy, it will soon become a National Maritime Domain Awareness (NDMA) centre, with all stakeholders having their presence there
- Approved by the Defence Acquisition Council in 2012, the IMAC became operational in 2014 at a cost of ₹450 crore and is located in Gurugram
- IMAC is the single point centre interlinking the newly formed coastal radar chain
- It is Indian Navy’s eyes and ears
Role of IMAC
- It is the nodal centre of the National Command Control Communication and Intelligence System (NC3I), which was established to link the operational Centres and lower echelons of the Navy and the Coast Guard spread across the country’s coastline, including the island territories.
- The IMAC tracks vessels on the high seas and gets data from the coastal radars, white shipping agreements, Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) transponders fitted on merchant ships, air and traffic management system and global shipping databases.
What is white shipping agreement?
- It is an information network protocol that allows the navies of two countries to exchange information about ships in their oceanic territories.
- White shipping information refers to exchange of relevant advance information on the identity and movement of commercial non-military merchant vessels.
Source: The Hindu
