National Maritime Domain Awareness Centre (NMDAC) : 3 Jan, 2023

Why in News:

• India plans to establish the NMDAC in response to threats in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

What is NMDAC:

• The Indian Navy’s Information Management and Analysis Centre (IMAC) in Gurugram will upgrade to NMDAC in about three years.
• The Centre will integrate personnel from 15 agencies across seven Ministries for real-time maritime information exchange. Key ministries include petroleum, defense, fisheries, and shipping.
• Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) is responsible for providing necessary hardware and software.
• Objective: To gather, analyze, and provide intelligence for maritime challenges, focusing on Chinese naval activities in the IOR.

IMAC:

• Established post the 26/11 Mumbai attacks as the central agency for maritime monitoring.
• Became operational in 2014, approved by the Defence Acquisition Council in 2012.
• Functions as the nodal center for the National Command, Control, and Intelligence (NC3I) Network and the Information Fusion Centre-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) since 2018.
• Facilitates domestic and international maritime domain awareness and information sharing.