INS ''Tarkash'' (F50) () is the second constructed for the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

. She is part of the second batch of ''Talwar''-class frigates ordered by the Indian Navy. She was built at the Yantar shipyard in

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad,. known as Königsberg; ; . until 1946, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, an Enclave and exclave, exclave of Russia between Lithuania and Poland ( west of the bulk of Russia), located on the Prego ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. She was commissioned to Navy service on 9 November 2012 at Kaliningrad and joined the

Western Naval Command The Western Naval Command is one of the three command–level formations of the Indian Navy. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. As the senior–most of the three formations, the command is responsible for the all naval forces in the A ...

on 27 December 2012.

Design

''Tarkash'' belongs to the second flight ( F45, F50, F51) of ''Talwar'' class of guided missile frigates. These are modified Krivak III-class frigates built by Russia. These ships use stealth technologies and a special hull design to ensure a reduced radar cross section. Much of the equipment on the ship is Russian-made, but a significant number of systems of Indian origin have also been incorporated. The main difference between ''Tarkash'' and the earlier flight of ''Talwar''-class ships ( F40, F43, F44) is the use of

BrahMos The BrahMos (also designated as PJ-10)Klub-N The Novator Kalibr (Калибр, caliber), also referred to as 3M54-1 Kalibr, 3M14 Biryuza (Бирюза, turquoise), (NATO reporting name SS-N-27 Sizzler and SS-N-30A) is a family of Russian cruise missiles developed by NPO Novator (OKB-8). It ...

missiles in the earlier ships. It is the second of the three frigates built in Russia as a follow-up order to the first batch of Talwar-class frigates.

Construction

''Tarkash'' was launched on 23 June 2010 at Yantar Shipyard in

, Russia. Her delivery was delayed from the original goal of October 2011 due to labour shortages and delays in equipment deliveries. She departed the Yantar shipyard on 24 May 2012 to begin her sea trials. The sea trials were successfully completed in the month of August 2012. On 9 November 2012, ''Tarkash'' was handed over to the Indian Navy by Yantar Shipyard. She joined the

on 27 December 2012.

Operations

Operation Raahat

In March 2015, ''Tarkash'' was deployed with and as part of

Operation Raahat Operation Raahat () was an operation of the Indian Armed Forces to evacuate Indian citizens and foreign nationals from Yemen during the 2015 military intervention by Saudi Arabia and its allies in that country during the Yemeni Crisis. The ev ...

to provide protection and support to Indian ships and aircraft involved in the evacuation of Indian citizens from

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

during the

military intervention Interventionism, in international politics, is the interference of a state or group of states into the domestic affairs of another state for the purposes of coercing that state to do something or refrain from doing something. The intervention ca ...

Anti Piracy Operations

On 14 March 2024, INS Tarkash intercepted the hijacked Bangladeshi

MV Abdullah MV ''Abdullah'', originally named MV ''Golden Hawk'', is a Bangladeshi bulk carrier. History Built in 2015, the vessel was acquired in late 2023 from Japanese owners. The MV ''Abdullah'' is currently owned by KSRM Shipping Ltd. Hijacking On ...

and ensured the safety of the crew members onboard. Maritime Patrol Aircraft P-8I is being used in this operation. The operation was carried out 600 nm east of

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

coast. On 1st April 2025, ''Tarkash'', supporting

Combined Task Force 150 Combined Task Force 150 (CTF-150) is a multinational coalition naval task force working under the 34-nation coalition of Combined Maritime Forces and is based in Bahrain established to monitor, board, inspect, and stop suspect shipping to purs ...

intercepted a dhow following reports from a P-8I and dismantled a Narcotics operations, destroying over 2,500 kilograms of suspected narcotic substances. On 4 April 2025, INS ''Tarkash'' conducted a PASSEX with the

Royal New Zealand Navy The Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN; ) is the maritime arm of the New Zealand Defence Force. The fleet currently consists of eight ships. The Navy had its origins in the Naval Defence Act 1913, and the subsequent acquisition of the cruiser , whi ...

’s in the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden (; ) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channel, the Socotra Archipelago, Puntland in Somalia and Somaliland to the south. ...

. The exercise concluded New Zealand led- CTF 150 Joint Focused Operation ANZAC Tiger and included cross-deck landings, boarding drills, and manoeuvres to enhance bilateral maritime interoperability and cooperation.

Gallery

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Talwar (F40) Talwar-class frigates Frigates of the Indian Navy 2010 ships