India's goal of building indigenous warships will receive a major boost when two frontline warships of the Indian Navy – Project 15B Destroyer Surat and Project 17A Frigate Udaygiri – will be launched at the Mazgaon Docks Limited (MDL) in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Surat' is the fourth ship of Project 15B next generation stealth guided missile destroyers of the Indian Navy being built at the MDL. It heralds a significant makeover of the P15A (Kolkata Class) Destroyers and is named after the commercial capital of Gujarat and which is also the second largest commercial hub of western India after Mumbai. The city has a rich maritime and ship building history with the vessels built there in the 16th and 18th centuries being known for their longevity – some of them lasting for more than 100 years.
The ship has been built using the block construction methodology which involved hull construction at two different geographical locations and has been joined together at MDL Mumbai. The first ship of this class was commissioned in 2021. The second and third ships have been launched and are at different stages of outfitting/trials.
Ship ‘Udaygiri’, which has been named after a mountain range in the state of Andhra Pradesh, is the third ship of Project 17A Frigates. These are follow-on of the P17 Frigates (Shivalik Class) with improved stealth features, advanced weapons and sensors and platform management systems.
‘Udaygiri’ is the reincarnation of erstwhile ‘Udaygiri’, the Leander Class ASW Frigate, which saw numerous challenging operations in its illustrious service to the country spanning over three decades from 18th February 1976 to 24th August 2007.
Tomorrow, 17th May, I shall be in Mumbai to attend the landmark event in the history of indigenous warship building when two frontline @indiannavy warships, Surat, a Project 15B Destroyer & Udaygiri, a Project 17A Frigate will be launched concurrently at MDL.
Look forward to it. pic.twitter.com/exYocUCfDi— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) May 16, 2022
Under the P17A program, a total of seven ships, with 4 at MDL and 3 at GRSE are under construction. Various novel concepts and technologies like Integrated Construction, Mega Block Outsourcing and Project Data Management/Project Lifecycle Management (PDM/PLM) have been adopted for the first time in indigenous Warship Design and Construction in this project. The first two ships of P17A Project were launched in 2019 and 2020 at MDL and GRSE, respectively.
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. During the building phase at the shipyard, around 75% of the orders for equipment and systems have been placed on indigenous firms including MSMEs which is a true testament of ‘Atmanirbharta’ in the country.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be the Chief Guest for both landmark events.
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