Adding teeth to India’s already formidable maritime arsenal, two indigenous frontline warships built by the Indian Navy will be launched today at the Mazagon Docks in Mumbai in the presence of Union defence minister Rajnath Singh.
The frontline warships — ‘Surat’ (project 15B Destroyer) and ‘Udaygiri’ (Project 17A Frigate) — are “next generation stealth guided missiles destroyers”, said the defence ministry in an official statement.
“Both 15B and P17A ships have been designed in-house by the Directorate of Naval Design (DND), which has been the fountainhead for all warship design activities of the nation,” the statement said.
Approximately 75% of the orders for equipment and systems for the warships were given to indigenous firms including micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), a “true testament of Atmanirbhar Bharat”, the ministry added.
‘Udaygiri’ (Frigate), named after the mountain ranges in Andhra Pradesh, is the third ship under Project 17A Frigates. It is equipped with advanced weapons, sensors and platform management systems. This warship is the “reincarnation” of a previous edition of Udaygiri, which saw numerous challenging operations in its service of three decades, from 18 February 1976 to 24 August 2007.
According to the defence ministry, there are at present more than 50 ships and submarines in the making, and the Indian Navy comprises about 150 ships and submarines. Speaking on ‘Atmanirbharta’, Indian Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar said in December 2021 that in the last seven years, all 28 ships and submarines commissioned into the Navy were built by India. He added that out of the 39 under-construction naval vessels and ships, 37 are being built in Indian shipyards.
