Mangalore: Coastguard gets second Hovercraft from UK for surveillance of Karnataka coast
Bellevision Media Network
Mangalore, Oct 06, 2014: The west coast of the country received a double boost after the second hovercraft arrived at coastguards headquarter in Panambur, here on Monday October 6.
Karnataka Coastguards Commander Rajmani Sharma received the hovercraft.
The hovercraft is commanded by Commandant A Banerjee and is fully armed with heavy machine guns and state-of-art communication and navigation equipment including radar and worldwide satellite communication.
The commandant said, ‘It is not only fast, it can also operate in the areas where our ships cannot go. For example, the ships have to keep an eye on the depth of the sea and so cannot approach the shore or have to be wary of shallow seas. The hovercraft can easily land on the shore.’
The 21 metres long ACV with 31 tons of displacement can achieve maximum speed of 45 knots (1 Knot=1.8 kilometres). It is capable of undertaking multifarious tasks such as surveillance, interdiction, search and rescue and rendering assistance to small boats/craft’s at sea. The craft is capable of operation on land as well as over sea. Areas inaccessible from both sea and land can be approached by hovercraft likely marshy lands and isolated islands.
The craft operates by skimming over the surface of water using a cushion of air created by two propellers fitted on top of the craft. H-198 is fully armed with a heavy machine gun and the state-of-art communication and navigation equipment including radar and worldwide satellite communication. It carries a crew of two officers and 11 sailors of other ranks.
Incidentally, the city’s first tryst with ICG ACV was with ICG Hovercraft H-194, the eighth in the series of 12 ACVs designed and built by M/s Griffon Hoverworks Limited, UK. It was stationed here from February 14 to 19, 2014.
Commandant Rajender Singh Sapal, Commandant said the process for construction of a hover port to house the two ACVs - H-196 and H-198 is underway and expected to be completed soon.