• ‘Udaygiri’, the second ship of Project 17A stealth frigate built at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) was delivered to the Navy on July 1.

• This is a watershed moment for the Navy as ‘Udaygiri’ is the 100th ship designed and delivered by the Warship Design Bureau.

• The remaining five ships of the P17A class are at various stages of construction at MDL, Mumbai and GRSE, Kolkata, and would be delivered by the end of 2026.

Project 17A frigates

• Project 17A frigates are a follow-on class of the P17 (Shivalik Class) frigates with improved stealth features, advanced weapons and sensors and platform management systems.

• The Navy had placed orders for seven stealth frigates, four of which are being developed by Mazagon Dock Ltd (MDL) and three by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE).

• P17A ships have been designed in-house by Navy’s Warship Design Bureau. Around 75 per cent of the orders for equipment and system of P17A ships are being placed on indigenous firms.

• The first ship of Project 17A, ‘Nilgiri’ built by MDL, was launched on September 28, 2019. 

• ‘Himgiri’, the first of the three Project 17A ships being built at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE), Kolkata was on December 14, 2020.

• The third ship ‘Udaygiri’ under the project was launched on May 17, 2023. 

• ‘Dunagiri’, the fourth ship of P17A frigates, was launched in July, 2023. It was named after a mountain range in Uttarakhand.

• ‘Taragiri’, named after a hill range in the Himalayas located at Garhwal, is the fifth ship of Project 17A frigates.

• ‘Vindhyagiri’, named after the mountain range in Karnataka, is the sixth ship in this series.

• ‘Mahendragiri’, named after a mountain peak in Eastern Ghats located in the state of Odisha, is the seventh ship of the Project 17A frigates.

Udaygiri

• Udaygiri is a modern avatar of its predecessor, the erstwhile INS Udaygiri, which was a steam ship decommissioned on August 24, 2007, after rendering 31 years of service to the nation.

• P17A frigates are capable of operating in an environment dealing with both conventional and non-conventional threats in the area of India’s maritime interests. 

• The warship is fitted with major weapons and sensors sourced from indigenous original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

• The ships are configured with Combined Diesel or Gas (CODOG) main propulsion plants, comprising a Diesel Engine and Gas turbine, driving a Controllable Pitch Propeller (CPP) on each shaft and a state-of-the-art Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS). 

• The weapon suite comprises supersonic surface-to-surface missile system, Medium-Range Surface to Air Missile system, 76 mm gun, and a combination of 30 mm and 12.7 mm rapid-fire close-in weapon systems.

• The shipbuilding requirements of the project have led to direct employment generation for about 4,000 personnel and more than 10,000 personnel through indirect or ancillary sources.

• The positive spin-offs of the shipbuilding project included self-reliance, economic development, employment generation, growth of MSMEs and the ancillary ecosystem in the country.

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