India's INS Tabar conducts naval drills with ENS Alexandria


According to information published by the Indian Ministry of Defence on September 7, 2021, on leaving the port of Alexandria, INS Tabar undertook a maritime partnership exercise with ENS Alexandria, a frontline frigate of the Egyptian Navy, in the Mediterranean Sea.
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Russian Vyborg Shipyard laid the Purga ice class coastguard ship of project 23550 925 001 Talwar-class frigate INS Tabar and Olivier Hazard Perry-class frigate ENS Alexandria (Picture source: Indian Navy)


The exercise involved multiple activities covering a wide range of naval operations. These included drills for transit through asymmetric threat environment, operations for interdicting suspect vessels at sea, communication procedures, joint development of maritime domain picture and replenishment at sea drills. A highlight of the exercise was the cross-deck helo operations that involved helo recovery procedures and airborne light replenishment drills between the two ships.

The exercise was significantly beneficial in enhancing interoperability between the two navies and widened the scope for combined operations against common maritime threats in future. The maritime partnership exercise culminated with a ‘Steam Past’ between the two ships, as per naval custom.

INS Tabar (F44) is the third of the Talwar-class frigate of the Indian Navy. The frigate was commissioned on 19 April 2004 in Kaliningrad, Russia with Captain (later Vice Admiral) Biswajit Dasgupta. The current Commanding Officer (CO) of INS Tabar is Captain Mahesh Mangipudi.

Fully loaded, INS Tabar has a displacement of 4,035 tons. The main engines of INS Tabar are the Zorya/Mashproekt M7N-1E gas turbine plant comprising two DS-71 cruise turbines (each rated up to 9,000 hp) and two DT-59 boost turbines. These power-plants move INS Tabar to 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph). Her maximum range is 4,850 nautical miles (8,980 km; 5,580 mi) at 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph), while at 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) the range lessens to 1,600 nautical miles (3,000 km; 1,800 mi).

Two Kashtan Air Defence Gun/Missile mounts are INS Tabar's Close-In Weapons System (CIWS). The Kashtan CIWS has two GSh-30k 30 mm (1.2 in) Gatling guns per mount firing 5,000 rounds a minute, along with eight 9M-311 Grison missiles (SA-N-11) with a range of 8 km (5.0 mi). There are 64 Grison reloads (32 each mount) with a package of four missile taking less than two minutes to load.