Indian naval ships are taking part in separate engagements with Russia and the United Kingdom this month, with INS Sahyadri at Vladivostok ahead of Exercise INDRA and INS Trishul at Plymouth for Exercise Konkan. The Defence Ministry announced the two deployments in separate releases on 11 October.
Sahyadri reached the Russian port on 10 October. Its bilateral exercise with the Russian Federation Navy is scheduled for 13 to 18 October. In Britain, the Konkan programme runs from 8 to 15 October off Plymouth, bringing the Indian Navy and Royal Navy together for harbour activities and drills at sea.
The two schedules place Indian crews in different training environments during the same week. The ministry describes both engagements as opportunities to improve how the participating navies coordinate operations, exchange professional practices and understand one another's procedures.
Sahyadri prepares for INDRA
The official announcement on Sahyadri sets out a harbour phase followed by coordinated activities at sea. It lists professional exchanges and maritime manoeuvres, alongside social and cultural interaction between personnel. It does not identify every participating Russian vessel or provide a day-by-day operational programme.
The ministry links the deployment to India's MAHASAGAR policy, expanded as Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions. It also places the visit within the defence and maritime relationship with Russia, referring to the 23rd annual bilateral summit held on 4 and 5 December 2025.
Sahyadri's current visit follows another regional exercise. A 3 October ministry release recorded that Sahyadri and INS Kulish had completed the ASEAN-India Maritime Exercise in the Philippines. That programme included humanitarian-assistance and disaster-relief training, boarding and search drills, and replenishment while ships were under way.
Helicopter activity in that earlier exercise included landings on partner ships, moving supplies by air and casualty evacuation drills. Those details describe the completed Philippines programme. They are not a confirmed list of activities for INDRA, whose public announcement gives a broader outline.
Trishul's programme in Plymouth
The Konkan release identifies Trishul as a guided-missile stealth frigate. The harbour programme includes professional discussions, visits between ships, sporting and cultural activities, and opening the ship to visitors. The release does not provide public visiting hours or an entry procedure.
At sea, the programme covers air, surface and underwater operations. Planned activities include cross-deck flying, firing exercises, air defence, seamanship and anti-submarine drills. The stated training objective is to improve the two navies' ability to work together in demanding maritime situations.
Konkan is an annual bilateral exercise. The ministry says its scale and complexity have developed over more than two decades. This edition is being presented as part of the wider India-UK Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the defence cooperation described in their Vision 2035 document.
The wider defence framework
The published India-UK Vision 2035 calls for continued joint exercises, wider training opportunities across the armed services and placing instructors in each other's military training institutions. It also identifies India as a regional base for sustaining logistical support to the British armed forces' presence in the Indian Ocean.
The same document sets out work on a regional maritime-security centre of excellence under the Indo-Pacific Oceans' Initiative. Its intended focus is capacity and resilience against non-traditional maritime threats. These are elements of the bilateral framework; the October Konkan announcement does not announce a new centre opening or a fresh defence procurement agreement.
The framework also calls for a ten-year defence industrial roadmap and senior-level monitoring of its implementation. It identifies electric propulsion and jet-engine core technologies as areas for cooperation. Those longer-term projects sit alongside training and operational engagement. A scheduled naval exercise, however, provides no evidence on its own that a technology-development contract has been signed or that equipment has been ordered.
Dalimss News has separately reported on India's defence-technology discussions at Tarang Shakti and the Defence Secretary's planned Cyprus and Greece visit. For the naval engagements, the next scheduled steps are the continuing Konkan programme through 15 October and the start of INDRA on 13 October. Operational results will require subsequent official accounts.
