Indian Navy’s INS Trishul thwarts piracy attempt in Gulf of Aden

Indian Navy frigate, INS Trishul has thwarted a piracy attempt on merchant ship MV Jag Amar at 1230 hours today in Gulf of Aden, the service announced.

The Navy’s special forces unit, MARCOS has conducted boarding operation on the Indian flagged vessel and recovered an AK-47 assault rifle along with a magazine with 27 rounds, grapnels, ropes, fuel drums and ladders used by the pirates.

The statement from the Navy added that 29 Indian crew on the ship are safe. The cargo ship was on its way to Jubail, Saudi Arabia.

INS Trishul (F43):

INS Trishul (F43) is the second Talwar-class guided missile frigate of the Indian Navy.

The ship was commissioned by the then Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command Vice Admiral Arun Prakash at St. Petersburg, Russia on 25 June 2003.

The Talwar-class frigates are modified Krivak III-class frigates built by Russia. These ships use stealth technologies and a special hull design to ensure a reduced radar cross section.

The ship’s main armament is  one 100 mm A-190 (E) dual purpose gun mount which can engage both surface and air targets. Its rate of fire is 60 rounds a minute at a range of 15 km. The ship is also armed with two Kashtan Close-In Weapons System (CIWS).

Trishul became the second Indian warship to incorporate an eight cell KBSM 3S-14NE Vertical Launcher system (VLS) and was the first to be armed with the new Indo-Russian BrahMos PJ-10 supersonic cruise missile. The VLS can also launch the 3M-54E Klub-N (NATO: SS-N-27) subsonic Anti-Ship cruise missile (ASCM).

The vessel is equipped with one single-rail MS-196 launcher that can launch the long-range Shtil-1 (NATO: SA-17) surface-to-air missile (SAM). Eight Igla-1E (NATO: SA-16) man portable air defence system (MANPADS) are on board for short-range threats.

The ship has one 12-round RBU-6000 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) rocket system that can fire either Splav-90R rockets or RGB-60 depth charges. There are two twin 533 mm DTA-53 torpedo tubes that can be armed with either SET-65E anti-submarine and 53-65KE anti-ship torpedoes.

The ship has a complement of 32 officers and 228 sailors.

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