INS Tabar ( F44 ) INS " Tabar ( F44 ) " ( translated as " Battle axe " ) is the third of the of the Indian Navy . The frigate was commissioned on 19 April 2004 in Kaliningrad , Russia . INS " Tabar " is the first vessel in the " Talwar " class to be armed with supersonic BrahMos ( PJ - 10 ) anti - ship cruise missiles . She is also equipped with Barak 1 missiles . The current Commanding Officer ( CO ) of Tabar is Capt . Sai Venkataraman , a graduate of the National Defense Academy . After a 12 port commissioning cruise INS " Tabar " reached her homeport of Mumbai 31 July 2004 . Along with her sister ships INS " Talwar " ( sword in Sanskrit ) and INS " Trishul " ( trident in Sanskrit ) , INS " Tabar " is assigned to Indian Navy ’ s Western Naval Command , headquartered in Mumbai . INS " Tabar " is a well - equipped warship that 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 . Design and performance . INS " Tabar " s 28 officers and 232 sailors living conditions are similar to those on the Royal Australian Navy ' s " Adelaide " class frigates . 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 9000 hp ) and two DT - 59 boost turbines . These powerplants move INS " Tabar " to . Her maximum range is at , while at the range lessens to . One downside for INS " Tabar " and her sister ships is the amount of smoke her engines produce . Armament . The surface to air weapons systems include one single - rail MS - 196 launcher that can launch the long range Shtil - 1 ( NATO : SA - 17 ) surface to air missile . Eight Igla - 1E ( NATO : SA - 16 ) portable air defence missiles are on board for short - range threats . INS " Tabar " became the third Indian warship to incorporate an eight cell KBSM 3S - 14NE Vertical Launcher and was the first to upload the new Indian / Russian designed missile , the supersonic BrahMos PJ - 10 ASCM ( anti - sub / ship / surface cruise missile ) . INS " Tabar " ' s VLS can launch the Indian designed 3M - 54E Klub - N ( NATO : SS - N - 27 ) subsonic ASCM . INS " Tabar " has one 100 - mm A - 190 ( E ) Dual Purpose Gun mount for surface and air targets . Its rate of fire is 60 rounds a minute at a range of 15 km . 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 Gatling guns per mount firing 5 , 000 rounds a minute , along with eight 9M - 311 Grison missiles ( NATO : SA - N - 11 ) with a range of 8 km . There are 64 Grison reloads ( 32 each mount ) with a package of four missile taking less than 2 minutes to load . Forward of INS " Tabar ' s " bridge and aft of the VLS is one 12 - round RBU - 6000 anti - submarine warfare rocket launch that can fire either Splav - 90R rockets or RGB - 60 depth charges . Two pairs of fixed 533 - mm DTA - 53 torpedo tubes are located port and starboard midships . Both can launch either SET - 65E anti - sub and 53 - 65KE antiship torpedoes . Sensors . Controlling this array of weapons is the Trebovaniye - M combat information and control system that can control all of INS " Tabar ' s " weapons as well as using situation analysis to generate combat missions . The combat system can transmit data and process information from up to 250 sources . With a range of nearly 300 km , the Fregat M2EM ( NATO : Top Plate ) 3D radar is INS " Tabar ' s " air / surface radar . The M2EM system features continuous scanned arrays along with providing targeting information for the Shtil - 1 missile system . One 3Ts - 25E Garpun - B radar unit is utilised for long - range surface search and target acquisition . INS " Tabar " is also equipped with two navigation radars . INS " Tabar ' s " fire control is the Ratep JSC 5P - 10E Puma fire control system . The Puma uses phased array and target tracking radar along with laser and TV devices . The Puma can operate autonomously with the ability of automatically detecting , locking on , and tracking four targets at once . INS " Tabar ' s " sonar is the BEL APSOH ( Advanced Panoramic Sonar Hull ) hull - mounted sonar . The APSOH sonar has active ranging , passive listening , and auto tracking of targets . For countermeasures INS " Tabar " includes the Russian TK - 25E - 5 electronic warfare suite and 120 mm chaff and infrared decoy rounds fired by four KT - 216 launchers . Air operations . For her deployment INS " Tabar " had a Ka - 31 Helix - B AEW helicopter embarked from Indian Naval Air Squadron 339 ‘ Falcons ’ Squadron in Mumbai . With a flight crew of 2 , the Ka - 31 has a speed of and a maximum ceiling of 6 , 000 metres . Its range is a maximum of and can remain airborne for 4 . 5 hours . The Ka - 31 ’ s airborne early warning radar is the E - 801M Oko ( Eye ) , a 6x1 meter planar array located beneath the fuselage . The radar unfolds during flight and has the ability to detect up to 200 targets while simultaneously track up to 20 airborne or surface threats from a range of 115 km from an altitude of nearly Information gathered can be transmitted via an encoded data - link to a ship or shore command post . INS " Tabar " has also possibility to carry one Ka - 28 or one Indian - made HAL Dhruv . Operations near the Horn of Africa . Following the media attention to the " MT Stolt Valor " incident , and a host of other pirate attacks on Indian vessels , as well as the general lawlessness around the Horn of Africa , the Indian government deployed the INS " Tabar " to the area to conduct anti - piracy surveillance and patrol operations . She arrived to patrol the Gulf of Aden on 2 November 2008 . On 11 November 2008 , the INS " Tabar " was called into action to fight off a pirate attack on an Indian ship , the 38 , 265 - tonne bulk carrier owned by the Mumbai - based Great Eastern Shipping Company " Jag Arnav " , and a Saudi - registered vessel , " MV Timaha " . Both ships had crossed the Suez Canal when they were attacked by pirates who surrounded the vessel in small boats . An Indian navy spokesman said there were no casualties in the operation . " Both the ships had crossed the Suez Canal and were a short distance away from Aden when the Saudi vessel was attacked by these boats , each carrying up to five pirates each . Our frigate patrolling the area responded to a distress call by " MV Timaha " and sent an attack helicopter carrying commandos which opened fire while the pirates were making repeated attempts to board the Saudi ship . While all this was on , the Indian cargo ship was attacked within the next 30 minutes . As the " Jag Arnav " ' s was about away it gave a distress call . A Chetak helicopter , carrying a team of " MARCOS " ( Indian Navy Marine Commandos ) personnel , was sent to the location of the MV " Jag Arnav " . After the ensuing battle , the team successfully thwarted the hijack attempt . The incident took place from the Somalian coast . From November 2 to 19 , Indian naval operations in the area , led by INS " Tabar " , successfully escorted approximately 35 ships , including many non - Indian flagged vessels , safely during their transit through these pirate - infested waters . On November 20 , an anonymous Indian Navy official announced that the " Tabar " will be replaced in the Gulf of Aden by the destroyer INS " Mysore " , which at 6 , 700 tonnes is a larger ship with a greater holding capacity . International reactions . The head of the International Maritime Bureau ' s piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur , Noel Choong , said " If all warships do this , it will be a strong deterrent . But if it ' s just a rare case , then it won ' t work . It ' s about time that such a forceful action is taken . It ' s an action that everybody is waiting for . The United Nations and international community must decide how to solve this grave problem ( of piracy ) . They must be more forceful in their action . . . [ action should have been taken ] years back or even last year when piracy was just starting – it ' s clearly getting worse and out of control . " The UN Secretary - General Ban Ki - moon also welcomed a decision by India and other countries to cooperate with Somalia in the fight against piracy in its waters . In a report on Somalia submitted to the Security Council , Ban said " I welcome the decision of the governments of India and the Russian Federation to cooperate with the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia to fight piracy and armed robbery against ships . " Attack and controversial sinking . Just over a week after the MV " Jav Arnav " incident , on 19 November 2008 , the Indian Navy reported that the INS " Tabar " had come under attack from pirates . The INS " Tabar " crew requested that the pirate vessel stop to allow a search , but the pirates responded with a threat to sink the INS " Tabar " if it came any closer . The pirates then opened fire on the INS " 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 INS " Tabar " also forced the abandonment of another pirate vessel , while several pirates managed to escape via a speedboat under the cover of darkness . Recalling the incident to media persons , an Indian naval spokesman , Commander Nirad Sinha , said that the " INS " Tabar " encountered a pirate vessel south west of Oman with two speedboats in tow . This vessel was similar in description to the ' mother vessel ' mentioned in various piracy bulletins . INS " Tabar " closed in on the vessel and asked her to stop for investigation . Pirates were seen roaming on the upper deck of the vessel with guns and rocket propelled grenade launchers . The vessel continued threatening calls and subsequently fired upon INS " Tabar " . " Reports later surfaced that the sunken " mothership " was originally a Thai fishing trawler , the " FV Ekawat Nava 5 " , captured by the pirates which still had the Thai crew captive on board . One sailor was reportedly still alive , another confirmed dead , and 14 sailors remained missing . The surviving member of the trawler ' s crew was picked up by a passing ship after six days adrift on the ocean and was taken to Yemen where he informed the owner of the trawler of the events . The survivor said all the crew were tied up under the deck , except the captain and translator .