Next Generation Maritime Mobile Coastal Batteries (NGMMCB)

A defense acquisition council meeting chaired by the Defense Minister of India has cleared a Rs 1350 crore purchase for the two batteries of new Brahmos equipped land-based missiles which will be used for coastal protection by the Indian Navy.

The entire project is known as the Next Generation Maritime Mobile Coastal Batteries (NGMMCB).

What is the Next Generation Maritime Mobile Coastal Batteries(NGMMCB)?

• The Next Generation Maritime Mobile Coastal Batteries would (NGMMCB) is a new system that will come equipped with new missiles like the Brahmos which are to be used for coastal defense role.
• These missiles and the system will be part of the Indian Navy’s existing National Maritime Domain Awareness project.
• The missiles are a hybrid of the land and sea-based Brahmos missiles and are anti-ship missiles which will be fired from a land-based mobile autonomous launcher system.
• The radars of the system have been acquired from Terma of Denmark and were built in India with the close collaboration of the Tata Nova.
• The acquired radars have a range of 170 km and can effectively track multiple simultaneous air and surface targets in this range.
• Each NGMMCB system will consist of a single command post to collate and coordinate the action, two separate radar units and two firing units with three anti-ship missiles each.
• Every individual battery will also have a reconnaissance vehicle and two vehicles which will carry a Man-Portable Air Defence Missile Systems (MANPADs) unit to provide a short-range aerial defense.
• All systems are to be delivered within two years from the date of orders being placed.

What is the National Maritime Domain Awareness project?

The National Maritime Domain Awareness project comprises of a network of radars which will all send their data to a high bandwidth fusion data center for command and control. The project was initiated after the 26/11 attacks exposed the vulnerability of India’s long coastline.