NEW DELHI: The delivery of the indigenously manufactured stealth Frigate Udaygiri to the Indian Navy on Tuesday marked a rare landmark in the history of the Force. Yard 12652 (Udaygiri), the second ship of Project 17A stealth frigate, being built at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDSL), became the 100th ship to be designed and delivered by the Indian Navy’s in-house Warship Design Bureau. The Indian Navy in its statement said, “The Project is a follow-on of the Shivalik class (Project 17) frigates active in service. Udaygiri is the second among the seven P17A frigates under construction at MDSL, Mumbai and GRSE, Kolkata. It is going to bolster the Indian Navy’s blue water capabilities in future.”Indian Navy in its statement added, “These multi-mission frigates are capable of operating in a ‘Blue Water’ environment dealing with both conventional and non-conventional threats in the area of India’s maritime interests.” Udaygiri is a modern Avatar of its predecessor, erstwhile INS Udaygiri, a Steam Ship decommissioned on 24 August 2007 after rendering 31 years of glorious service to the nation. P-17A ships have enhanced stealth features and are fitted with ‘State of the Art’ weapons and sensors, a significant upgrade from the P17 class. The ships represent a quantum leap in the Indian Navy’s in-house design capabilities at the Warship Design Bureau. The newly designed ships are also being built employing the philosophy of ‘Integrated Construction’, which involves extensive pre-outfitting at the Block stages to reduce the overall build periods. Udaygiri has been delivered to the Indian Navy, in a record time of 37 months from the date of launching. These ships are fitted with an advanced weapon and sensor suite with enhanced ‘sleek and stealthy’ features compared to the P17 class.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 a supersonic Surface-to-Surface missile system, a 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.
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