In another twist to the December 31 Coast Guard operation, state of the art Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) squadron of the Navy, stationed at Porbandar was left unused.
Sources, quoted in Hindustan Times say that the Navy’s Western Command received little information about the operation being carried out by the Coast Guard on December 31.
The INAS 343 which was commissioned in January 2011 at Porbandar due to it's proximity to Karachi would have been a major asset in the operation as the UAV's with advanced cameras for reconnaissance and could have intercepted calls made by the 'terror' boat.
INAS 343, commissioned by then Gujarat Governer Kamla Beniwal, is the first operational UAV Squadron under the Mumbai-based Western Naval Command, considered to be the sword arm of Indian Navy. The maritime versions of Searcher MKII and Heron from Israel are capable of beaming real-time live pictures of maritime targets to commands ashore.