Sitharaman inaugurates Indian Navy's Information Fusion Centre

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Saturday inaugurated the Indian Navy's Information Fusion Centre (IFC) that aims to collaborate with partner countries and multi-national agencies to develop maritime awareness and share information on vessels.

Speaking at the inauguration, Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said India aims to work closely with multinational constructs and other Information Fusion Centres through this new centre.

Additionally, the IFC-Indian Ocean Region would work towards capability-building in the region, coordination of incident response and disaster relief, and in time, also share submarine safety information, he said.

As part of the IFC-IOR's collaborative and capability development endeavours, a Maritime Information Sharing workshop in Delhi is also planned next year, Lanba said.

The IFC-IOR is initially being launched as a virtual construct wherein information exchange will be done electronically through the Internet.

He said the Centre would also host international liaison officers from participating countries on a permanent basis that will help accrue immense value from the combined expertise.