Royal Navy joins forces with Indian counterparts during visit to Portsmouth with intensive workout

INS Tabar spent the weekend in the city on the latest leg of her European deployment with an intensive workout above, on and beneath the waves with frigate HMS Westminster in the Channel.

The Mumbai-based frigate left Portsmouth Harbour on Monday morning with HMS Westminster for their annual combined exercise.

The two frigates performed a variety of manoeuvres in the Solent, sometimes at high speed, before they practised transferring moves at sea and then broke off for warfare training.

The pair practised passing tactical information, tracking targets over the horizon and sharing information for the other vessel to ‘engage’.

An aerial warfare threat was simulated with a Falcon jet from Bournemouth pretending to be an enemy fighter bearing down on Westminster and Tabar.

The exercise concluded with a combined anti-submarine exercise against laid targets.

‘My crew and I relish the opportunity to collaborate with units from partner nations who we do not regularly see in UK waters, such as the INS Tabar,’ said Cdr Louise Ray, Westminster’s Commanding Officer.

‘We are always keen to engage with foreign units and conduct complex multi-disciplinary exercises with them to mutually improve our ways of working and broaden our experience.’

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Rob Kent, Lt Cdr Rob Kent, Westminster’s Weapon Engineer Officer, said: ‘Throughout the jam-packed day of serials, it was clear that both units were learning from each other and the professional attitude to getting the most out of each and every serial was tangible.

‘It is clear that the interaction between the navies continues along its very positive trajectory this year. This bond looks to only get stronger as the Royal Navy forward deploys more capabilities to the western Indian Ocean and wider Indo-Pacific regions.’

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