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The ship’s port visits saw various social and professional interactions conducted with the host countries. The ship also undertook twelve maritime partnership exercises with foreign navies at sea. These exercises involved wide ranging and multi-dimensional evolutions covering a diverse range of naval operations. A few of these exercises were maiden engagements, such as that with the Royal Norwegian Navy, the Algerian Navy and the Sudanese Navy.

INS Tabar also participated in the 325th anniversary celebrations of the Russian Navy at St. Petersburg in Russia.
It was involved with Combined Maritime Bilateral Exercises like Exercise Varuna with French Navy and Exercise Indra with Russian Federation Navy along with Passage Exercises (PASSEX) across the Gulf of Aden, Red Sea, Suez Canal, Mediterranean Sea, North Sea and Baltic Sea while making port calls at Djibouti, Egypt, Italy, France, UK, Russia, Netherlands, Morocco, and Arctic Council countries like Sweden and Norway.

INS Tabar on 27 June 2021 arrived in Egypt, in Alexandria. Captain Mahesh paid tributes at unknown soldiers memorial and participated in a two day exercise with the Egyptian Navy Ship Toushka commenced by helo deck landing ops and underway replenishment drills.

The INS Tabar participated in the maritime exercises with Italian frigate ITS Antonio Marceglia (F 597) on 4-5 July 2021 in the Tyrrhenian Sea. This exercise was covered by air defence, replenishment at sea, communication drills and cross deck helicopter operations during the day and night.

On 15-16 July 2021, INS Tabar undertook maritime exercises with French navy’s FNS Aquitaine in Bay of Biscay. Other than FNS Aquitaine,four Rafale and one NH90 helicopter also participated in the exercise.

This exercise included the wide range of operations like anti – submarine, surface manoeuvers, underway replenishment, firing on target, visit board search & seizure (VBSS), Steam Past, Air Defence, Air Picture Compilation, Vertical Replenishment and crossdeck operations were exercised by the ships.

INS Tabar participated in Russian Navy Day parade from 22-27 July in St Petersburg. DB Venkatesh Varma, Indian ambassador to Russia visited the ship on 23rd July and later on Vice-Admiral Sergei Yeliseyev visited the ship and was given Guard of honour by the ship’s crew. The commanding officer presented the ship’s crest at the end of the Vice-Admiral Sergei Yeliseyev’s visit.

On 24 July, the commanding officer visited to Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery to pay homage. On on 25th July, the has participated in fleet review along with the 50 other ships.

On the last day of her visit, she was involved in Exercise Indra along with the two ships of Russian Navy on 28-29 July in Baltic Sea. The Exercise aims to achieve better military relations, interoperability and long-range sustenance.

The ship visited Sweden on 30 July. The Indian Ambassador visited the ship on 31 July.

INS Tabar is now deployed for patrol in the Gulf of Aden and the Persian Gulf.

Tailpiece: On 19 November 2008, INS Tabar had come under attack from pirates south west of Oman. The crew of INS Tabar requested that the pirate vessel with two speedboats in tow to stop and allow a search, but the pirates responded with a threat to sink Tabar if it came any closer. The pirates then opened fire on Tabar before the Indian navy responded by returning fire. After the retaliatory strike, it was reported that a large explosion occurred on the pirate vessel, rumoured to have been caused by the pirates’ weapons cache. The attack continued for about three to four more hours, and resulted in the sinking of the pirate’s “mother-ship”. The sunken “mother-ship” was found to be originally a Thai fishing trawler, FV Ekawat Nava 5, captured by the pirates which still had the Thai crew captive on board.

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. INS Tabar is assigned to Indian Navy’s Western Naval Command. INS Tabar has the ability to handle air/surface/sub-surface missions or defending herself operating either independently on maritime missions or supporting a larger naval task force.

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The first phase in the Bay of Bengal, from 3 to 6 November, involved conducting multiple complex drills including surface, anti-submarine and anti-air warfare operations, cross-deck flying, seamanship evolutions and weapon-firing. The second phase commenced from November 17 on the western front in the Arabian Sea.

ALSO READ: INDIA – U.S.: Indo-US Defence Cooperation Enters New Phase

Destroyer INS Ranvijay, frigate INS Shivalik, off-shore patrol vessel INS Sukanya, fleet support ship INS Shakti, submarine INS Sindhuraj, advanced jet trainer hawk, long-range maritime patrol aircraft P-8I and Dornier maritime patrol aircraft participated from the Indian Navy. Indigenously built submarine Khanderi and P8I maritime reconnaissance aircraft of the Indian Navy will also showcase their capabilities during the exercise.

US Navy’s Strike Carrier Nimitz was accompanied by cruiser Princeton and destroyer Sterett in addition to P8A maritime reconnaissance aircraft. The Royal Australian Navy was represented by frigate Ballarat along with its integral helicopter. JMSDF ships also participated.

Phase 1

Phase-1 of MALABAR 2020 witnessed participation of Indian Navy units with United States Ship (USS) John S McCain, Her Majesty’s Australian Ship (HMAS) Ballarat with integral MH-60 helicopter, and Japan Maritime Self Defence Ship (JMSDF) Onami, with integral SH-60 helicopter. Indian Navy’s participation in this phase was led by Rear Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan, Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet and included destroyer Ranvijay, indigenous frigate Shivalik, Offshore Patrol Vessel Sukanya, Fleet Support Ship Shakti, submarine Sindhuraj, P8I and Dornier maritime reconnaissance aircraft and Advanced Jet Trainer Hawk.

Phase 2

During Phase 2 of Exercise, the four navies participated in joint operations centred on the Vikramaditya Carrier Battle Group of the Indian Navy and Nimitz Carrier Strike Group of the US Navy.

The two aircraft carriers, along with other ships, submarines and aircraft of the participating navies, engaged in high-intensity naval operations including cross-deck flying operations and advanced air defence exercises by MIG 29K fighters of Vikramaditya and F/A-18 fighters and E2C Hawkeye from Nimitz. US Navy’s Strike Carrier Nimitz was accompanied by cruiser Princeton and destroyer Sterett in addition to P8A maritime reconnaissance aircraft.

ALSO READ: India, United States and Japan: Strategic Convergence in the Indian Ocean

The Royal Australian Navy and JMSDF were represented by frigate Ballarat and destroyer Murasame respectively, along with their integral helicopters. Indian Navy’s participation in Phase 2 was led by Rear Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet and included aircraft carrier Vikramaditya, indigenous destroyers Kolkata and Chennai, stealth frigate Talwar, Fleet Support Ship Deepak and the integral helicopters of these warships, indigenously built submarine Khanderi and P8I and IL-38 maritime reconnaissance aircraft.

Eastern Fleet’s a destroyer, Frigate, Fleet Support Ship, Offshore Patrol Vessel each along with a submarine and aviation elements like P8i, helicopters and AJT Hawks participated during the Phase I, under the command of Rear Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan, the Eastern Fleet Commander. The Phase II saw, in addition, ‘Dual Carrier’ operations, advanced surface and anti-submarine warfare exercises, seamanship evolutions and weapon firings were also undertaken during both phases of Malabar 2020, demonstrating the synergy, coordination and interoperability between the four friendly navies.

The exercise took place in a congested environment with at least 70 foreign warships patrolling the area between the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s warships were not in the vicinity but were not too far off either – ostensibly conducting anti-pirate operations off the Gulf of Aden.

Chinese Protests

China had protested when these countries exercised together last time and termed it as an “anti-China” grouping. For long, the US had wanted India by its side as a counterweight to China. New Delhi balanced its ties among global heavyweights like Russia and more recently China. But the current border dispute between Indian and China has pushed New Delhi to make ‘Quad’ more meaningful.

A Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece The Global Times termed the Malabar naval drill as “an ill-intentioned attempt to corner China”. It said: “Such an ill-intentioned attempt to corner China is a hollow bluff, and China will not be disrupted by India’s irrationality or US interference.”

Comments

The 24th edition of Malabar highlights enhanced convergence of views amongst the four democracies on maritime issues, and showcased their commitment to an open, inclusive Indo-Pacific and a rules-based international order.

The drill had substantive geopolitical implications not only in the current China-India face-off, but also in the larger Indo-Pacific context where China is flexing its muscle.

With the Indian Navy expected to commission indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant along with its second nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine, INS Arighat, by next year, India will be able to project power from Malacca Straits to Gulf of Aden and beyond.

With the US, India, Australia and Japan communicating through deployed assets, liaison officers in each other’s naval commands and Indian Ocean Monitoring Centres, the Quad is definitely a force to reckon with in Indo-Pacific with situational awareness of both West Asia and Africa.

In a clear message for China to realise the strategic autonomy that India practices, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said, on 20 November, that New Delhi’s decisions are solely aimed at protecting its interests.

Other global powers such as France and Germany have also talked about their interest in the Indo-Pacific region to keep it free for open navigation.

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