Pariksha SaathiINS Trishul Joins Royal Navy off Plymouth for Exercise KONKAN-26
The guided missile stealth frigate INS Trishul has reached Plymouth in the United Kingdom for KONKAN-26, the annual bilateral maritime exercise between the Indian Navy and Britain's Royal Navy, the Defence Ministry said on 11 October 2026. The exercise is being held off Plymouth in two phases between 8 and 15 October 2026. The harbour phase covers professional discussions, cross-deck visits, sports fixtures, cultural events and opening the ship to visitors. The sea phase is planned to test the two navies across air, surface and sub-surface domains, with cross-deck helicopter landings, firing serials, air defence drills, demanding seamanship manoeuvres and anti-submarine exercises. The Ministry noted that KONKAN has grown considerably in scale and complexity over the past two decades, and presented this edition as an expression of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership set out in the India-UK Vision 2035. Aspirants should file KONKAN under India-UK defence ties, alongside the India-UK trade developments of the same week.
Drafted with AI assistance from the official PIB release linked above and checked against it by a second AI pass. Not line-edited by a human.
Learning context
Exercise Konkan is a bilateral India-UK naval exercise held biennially since 2004, sometimes in Indian waters when Royal Navy ships deploy to the Indian Ocean, and sometimes in UK waters when Indian Navy ships visit — as with INS Trishul off Plymouth. In October 2025, the UK Carrier Strike Group (led by HMS Prince of Wales) and an Indian Carrier Strike Group (led by INS Vikrant) also exercised together for the first time — a separate, larger engagement from the regular Konkan series.
Reference: UK Government — news on the UK-India Carrier Strike Group partnership and Exercise Konkan
Check yourself: was the October 2025 carrier-to-carrier exercise between HMS Prince of Wales and INS Vikrant itself called "Konkan"?
No. That carrier exercise was a distinct, first-of-its-kind engagement; Konkan is the older, separate biennial series that has run since 2004 and is typically a smaller bilateral drill.
Revision task: from this release, note which year's Konkan edition this is (Konkan-26) and where it was held (off Plymouth), and check that against Konkan's standing biennial pattern since 2004 above.
Test yourself
KONKAN-26, in which INS Trishul is taking part, is the annual bilateral maritime exercise between the Indian Navy and the navy of which country?
Show the answer
Answer: United Kingdom
KONKAN is the India-UK exercise; the 2026 edition is held off Plymouth in two phases between 8 and 15 October.
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