The Konkan 2026 sea phase wrapped up off Plymouth on Thursday, bringing the India-UK bilateral maritime exercise to a close after eight days of training between the Indian Navy and the Royal Navy.

India sent the stealth frigate INS Trishul. The Royal Navy put up HMS Sutherland, a Duke-class anti-submarine warfare frigate.

Two frigates and a British sea training team

The exercise ran from 8 to 15 October. It was conducted by Fleet Operational Standards and Training (FOST), the Royal Navy organisation that trains and tests warships before they head out on operations. FOST works out of Devonport in Plymouth, which made the port a natural home for this year's edition and gave the Indian crew access to the same training staff that prepares British ships.

HMS Sutherland is a Type 23 frigate designed to hunt submarines, in service since the late 1990s. INS Trishul, a Talwar-class frigate, joined the Indian Navy in 2003.

Konkan 2026 sea phase packed into four days

The ships sailed on Monday, 12 October.

According to the Indian Navy, the Konkan 2026 sea phase took the two ships through advanced seamanship manoeuvres, joint tactical exercises and communication procedures. They also practised anti-surface asymmetric warfare and anti-submarine warfare, and carried out weapon firings, all in what the Navy described as a multi-threat maritime environment.

What the drills mean in plain terms

Asymmetric warfare at sea usually means a large warship defending itself against small, fast and cheap threats, such as armed speedboats, that can come at it in numbers. A multi-threat environment means crews deal with danger from more than one direction at the same time, in the air, on the surface and under the water, rather than one problem at a time.

Anti-submarine warfare is the job HMS Sutherland was built for. The Navy said the serials improved interoperability between the participating units, meaning the ability of two crews from different navies to talk, plan and operate alongside each other.

Harbour phase came first at Plymouth

Before the ships put to sea, INS Trishul spent the opening days alongside at Plymouth. That harbour phase covered professional interactions, cross-deck visits, sports fixtures and cultural engagements. The frigate was also opened to visitors, giving people in Plymouth a chance to walk the decks of an Indian warship.

Konkan has grown over two decades

Konkan is the annual bilateral maritime exercise between the two navies, and it has grown in scale and complexity over the past twenty years.

Last year's edition was far larger. Konkan-25 ran from 5 to 12 October 2025 off India's western coast and, for the first time, brought together the carrier strike groups of both navies, with the indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant leading the Indian side and HMS Prince of Wales leading the UK group.

Trishul is no stranger to the exercise. She represented India at Konkan 2023, held in March that year off the Konkan coast alongside HMS Lancaster.

The Navy has linked this year's edition to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership set out in the India-UK Vision 2035. At the 25th India-UK Defence Consultative Group meeting in New Delhi in August, the two sides agreed to expand joint exercises, training and capacity building between their armed forces, and the Navy said Konkan-26 furthered the maritime partnership between the two countries.

End of a long run through the Mediterranean and Atlantic

The UK leg capped weeks of engagements for the frigate. She called at Alexandria in Egypt in mid-September before reaching Toulon for the 24th edition of Exercise Varuna, where she trained at sea with the French frigates Forbin and La Fayette and the nuclear attack submarine Suffren.

Spain came next. INS Trishul arrived at Valencia on 30 September for engagements with the Spanish Navy, and then sailed north for Plymouth.