Port Blair, March 27 (IANS) Inter-operability of the defence forces is the buzzword at India's southernmost military base here as it refines an idea conceived six years ago and which is now ready for wider replication.

"Ours is a unique feature of the armed forces. What we have done here can be replicated across the spectrum of the defence forces," said Rear Admiral P.K. Nair, deputy head of the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC).

"We have achieved exceptional success in formulating a wonderful working model," Nair told IANS.

With the armed forces having formulated a joint doctrine, in addition to those existing separately for the army, the navy and the air force, the ANC thus forms the ideal platform for testing and refining the concept in real time.

As India's first tri-services command, the ANC has under its wing elements drawn from all three wings of the armed forces, as also the coast guard. Its chief is selected by rotation from the army, the navy and the air force.

Located in this capital of the Andaman and Nicobar chain, a cluster of 572 islands that extend some 720 km and lie 1,200 km off the southern and eastern coasts, the military base is closer to India's littoral states than the mainland. From Indira Point, the southernmost tip of the chain, Indonesia's Sumatra province is just 60 nautical miles away as the crow flies.

This puts the ANC in a unique position to guard the approaches to the strategic Malacca Straits, the world's busiest waterway through which upwards of 70,000 ships transit annually, even as it prepares for an energy security role in the Indian Ocean - and furthers New Delhi's Look East policy.

Just how important the ANC is from the military point of view can be gauged from the fact that it guards an area that comprises just 0.2 percent of India's land mass but constitutes a whopping 30 percent of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Inter-operability thus becomes the key word to success and how effectively this has been achieved was evident in the wake of the devastating Dec 26, 2004 tsunami that ravaged the Andaman islands when ANC personnel provided succour to its inhabitants and also to countries like Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the Maldives that too were badly affected.

"The reason we were able to do this so effectively was because we are a tri-services command. Thus, there were no problems of coordination that usually arise on such occasions," Nair pointed out.

With the initial hiccups having been overcome, the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) now envisages a major ramping up of its assets by doubling its airfields from two to four, by creating infrastructure to enable the docking of large naval vessels and by permanently deploying fighter aircraft at some stage.

The reasons for this are manifold.

"There is the question of protecting the EEZ. There is also the question of guarding the approaches to the Malacca Straits. We now have the wherewithal to counter poaching and sea piracy in this region," the ANC chief, Air Marshal P.P. Rajkumar, explained.

"This apart, we are also engaged in search and rescue operations and in anti-pollution measures," he added.

With oil and gas having been discovered in the seabed on the Myanmarese side of the zone, "it is only a matter of time before similar discoveries are made on our side", Kumar maintained.

Under the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) 2005-07, Indian exploration major Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has invited bids for two exploration blocks off the eastern coast of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and prospecting is expected to begin soon.

"Then, there is the question of transporting the oil and gas that will be found. Whether this is done by tankers or through a seabed pipeline, these routes will have to be made secure," Kumar pointed out.

According to him, "The ANC also has the unique responsibility, in consonance with India's Look East policy, of reaching out to the defence forces of India's maritime neighbours and building bridges of friendship."

To sharpen its skills and operational procedures, the ANC regularly conducts joint exercises with the navies of Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore, as also the larger Milan exercise. The 2006 edition of this saw the participation of 20 vessels from eight countries, including Australia.

The ANC had its beginnings in February 1964 as the naval base INS Jarawa, named after one of the tribes that inhabit the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. By the end of 1976, the base had expanded with the addition of another naval station and a coast guard station, and the induction of a 900-men army infantry battalion.

INS Jarawa was re-christened Fortress Andaman and Nicobar (FORTAN) in 1981. This saw the addition of a third naval station, an increase in army strength to brigade (3,000 men) level and the addition of an air force element.

In 2000, a panel that studied the conduct of the Kargil War with Pakistan the previous year recommended that FORTAN be converted into a tri-services command to enable better coordination between the armed forces in times of peace and during war.

ANC came into being in October 2001, its first head being Vice Admiral Arun Prakash, who eventually rose to be the Indian Navy chief.