Nigerian Navy Commissions Falcon Eye Project for Maritime Surveillance
President Muhammadu Buhari has commissioned the Nigerian Navy’s Falcon Eye System, a maritime surveillance facility that incorporates various sensors located along the nation’s enormous coastline.
Falcon Eye includes such facilities as radars, long range electro optic systems with thermal or night vision capability, automatic identification system receivers, weather stations and marine very high frequency radios for communication.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo SAN who represented the President at the Commissioning of The Falcon Eye Project at the Naval Headquarters in Abuja said that the integration of the sensors into the Falcon Eye system generates a real-time situational awareness of the activities of vessels in Nigerian maritime domain and some selected parts in the Gulf of Guinea.
“This will enable the Nigerian Navy generate a comprehensive intelligence picture of activities within our maritime environment for further analysis before, in appropriate cases , dispatching a Nigerian Navy Ship for interdiction, investigation, and/or subsequent arrest of erring vessels.
“The Falcon Eye System will serve as a force multiplier for our naval platforms tasked to effectively secure our maritime environment from external aggression. “It will also enable the Nigerian Navy to effectively combat any maritime crimes that could disrupt the conduct of maritime trade.”
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President Buhari said that his administration has demonstrated a clear commitment to building the capacity of our strategic institutions to secure Nigeria’s coastal waters and the precincts of the country’s maritime neighbourhood. Nigeria’s Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Awwal Gambo said that the “significance of the event arose out of the need for national maritime security architecture that would leverage modern technology to enhance the safeguard of the immense hydrocarbon, living and other mineral resources in the nation’s maritime domain.
“For the kind indulgence of Mr president, I beg to recall, that the significance of today’s event arose out of the need for national maritime security architecture that would leverage modern technology to enhance the safeguard of the immense hydrocarbon, living and other mineral resources in the nation’s maritime domain.
Admiral Gambo said that Nigeria’s maritime environment is strategic for the country’s survival, prosperity and the sustenance of its preeminent position in the comity of nations. In his remarks, National Security Adviser, Retired Major-General Mohammed Monguno, said that Falcon Eye was initially a two-year project, which was due for completion in 2016, but could not be achieved then “as a result of challenges beyond our control.”
Monguno said that the scope of the Falcon Eye Project includes establishment of a detection layer, identification layer as well as command and control centres.
The Chief of Naval Staff also presented souvenirs to President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo.
