Indian Navy commissions newest water jet fast attack craft INS Tarasa

The Indian Navy has commissioned its newest water jet fast attack craft (FAC), INS Tarasa, at the Naval Dockyard Mumbai.

INS Tarasa is the final of four follow-on water jet FACs to be developed by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), based in the Indian city of Kolkata.

The vessels are an upgrade of the Indian Navy’s Car Nicobar-class FACs, which were also designed and built locally by GRSE.

The 50m-long indigenously-built ship features improved endurance and low draught, as well as increased speed and manoeuvrability.

INS Tarasa is equipped with a locally developed 30mm main gun and several light, medium and heavy machine guns that can be used during coastal defence operations.

The vessel is powered by three waterjets that are capable of reaching speeds of more than 35k.

INS Tarasa can be deployed to carry out a wide range of missions and is expected to be based in Mumbai under the operational control of Western Naval Command.

The ship will be able capability to conduct coastal and off-shore surveillance, exclusive economic zone (EEZ) patrolling and law enforcement missions, in addition to non-military operations such as search and rescue, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

It is the second ship commissioned with the Indian Navy to be named INS Tarasa.

The first two vessels of the class were commissioned last year and are named INS Tarmugli and INS Tihayu. They are based in Visakhapatnam.

The third ship is known as INS Tillanchang and was commissioned on 9 March.