As part of an operational deployment, Indian Navy’s frigate INS Trishul (F43) arrived at Toulon naval base, France on September 22, 2026 to participate in the bilateral naval exercise Varuna.
Pictures taken by Toulon-based photographer and regular contributor to Naval News, Hervé Dermoune, show several upgrades the Talwar-class has received in recent years.
The Project 11356 frigate was built in Russia’s Baltic shipyard and commissioned in 2003. Trishul is the second Talwar class frigate of the Indian Navy and part of the first batch of three ships. India then ordered three in 2006 which were built by Yantar shipyard. In 2018, India signed two separate deals, one to import two more frigates by Yantar and the second to make two more at India’s Goa Shipyard Limited. Naval News has covered the newer vessels extensively and the two vessels built in India remains to be commissioned.
Footage from the deployment released by the Indian Navy confirms that Trishul now features a BrahMos capable UVLM. The Klub firing UKSK which was fitted on the first three ships of which Talwar and Tabar had been spotted with the UVLM earlier. With this all Talwar class frigates now have the BrahMos superson...