Indian Navy’s stealth frigate Mahendragiri launched

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CategoryDefence

Last Updated04/09/2023

Recently, the seventh and last stealth frigate of Project 17A, Mahendragiri, was launched into water by the wife of Vice-President of India at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) in Mumbai.
Under Project 17A, a total of seven ships were constructed, four at MDL and three at Garden Reach Ship Builders Limited (GRSE), Kolkata.

It is the seventh and last stealth frigate of Project 17A Frigates.
It is named after a mountain peak in Eastern Ghats located in Odisha.
The ship is being built by the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) in Mumbai.

Mahendragiri is a mountain in the Rayagada subdivision of the district of Gajapati, Odisha.
It is situated amongst the Eastern Ghats at an elevation of 1,501 metres.
The hill and its surrounding areas are recognized as a biodiversity hot spot due to numerous medicinal plants and other species that are found here.
It is inhabited by the Soura people, a particularly vulnerable tribal group as well as the Kandha tribe.

P-17A was launched by the Indian Navy in 2019 to construct a series of stealth guided-missile frigates.
These are currently being constructed by two companies viz.
- Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MDL)
- Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE)
Six P17A Project ships have been launched so far between 2019 and 2023.
- These were 'Nilgiri', 'Himgiri', 'Udaygiri', 'Dunagiri', ‘Taragiri’ and 'Vindhyagiri'.

These guided-missile frigates have been constructed with a specific stealth design.
Project 17A frigates are the follow-on Class of Project 17 ‘Shivalik Class’ frigates, with improved stealth features, advanced weapons, sensors and platform-management systems.
It has radar-absorbent coatings and is low-observable which can make its approach undetectable for the enemies.
It also reduces the infrared signals of the ship.
As much as 75% of the orders for equipment and systems of Project 17A ships are from indigenous firms, including MSMEs.
The economic development, employment generation, growth of MSMEs and ancillary industry in the country are positive spin-offs of the shipbuilding project.