India Launches 4th Nilgiri-Class P17A Frigate
28India's shipbuilder Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE) today launched the fourth Nilgiri-class (Project 17A) frigate for the Indian Navy, at its shipyard in Kolkata.
Seven P17A Frigates are under various stages of construction at MDL and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE). Dunagiri which was launched today is the 2nd frigate built by GRSE. It is named after the mountain range in the state of Uttarakhand. Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL) laid the keel of the 7th and final ship in late June 2022.
India’s Defence Minister, Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh, Admiral R Hari Kumar, Chief of Naval Staff, and other senior officers from Indian Navy and Ministry of Defence were amongst the dignitaries who attended the launch ceremony Dunagiri.
Speaking on the occasion, Raksha Mantri praised the efforts of Directorate of Naval Design and other Naval Teams in realizing the Nation’s quest for self-reliance with regard to warship building. He also commended GRSE for its unstinted support in the field of ship production despite various challenges and helping Indian Navy realize its ship induction plan. Raksha Mantri said that Dunagiri would be a world class stealth frigate with multidimensional capabilities to destroy enemies from sea, sky, and underwater.
The Nilgiri-class frigate or Project 17A is a follow-on of the Project 17 Shivalik-class frigate for the Indian Navy. The frigates are built with extensive use of low-observability technologies, including new radar-absorbing coatings, composite materials and “faceted” shape superstructures.
The ship will be fitted with a 76mm main gun, two 30 mm AK-630M anti-aircraft artillery systems, two torpedo tubes, launchers for eight BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles and 32 Barak-8 surface to air missiles. Its main radar will be the MF-STAR by IAI.