Quantum leap in Navy’s in-house ship design capabilities
Udaygiri (Yard 12652), the second ship of Project 17A stealth frigate, built at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDSL), was delivered to the Indian Navy on 1 July 2025.
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 MDL, Mumbai and GRSE, Kolkata.
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 which was 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 fitted with ‘State of the Art’ weapons and sensors, a significant upgrade from the P17 class.
The ships represent a quantum leap in 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.
The hull of P17A ships is geo-symmetrically larger by 4.54 % vis-à-vis P 17. These ships are fitted with an advanced weapon and sensors suite with enhanced ‘sleek and stealthy’ features compared to the P 17 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) https://www.bseindia.com/.
The weapon suite comprises supersonic Surface-to-Surface missile system, 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 https://www.nseindia.com/.
Aatmanirbharta in Ship Building and Employment Generation
The delivery of Udaygiri showcases the nation’s ship design, ship construction and engineering prowess enabled by a strong industrial ecosystem supported by over 200 MSMEs. The warship is fitted with major weapons and sensors sourced from indigenous OEMs https://sbi.com.in/.
Plough Back: The shipbuilding requirements of the Project have led to direct employment generation for about 4,000 personnel and more than 10,000 personnel through indirect/ ancillary sources. The positive spin offs of the shipbuilding project included self-reliance, economic development, employment generation, growth of MSMEs and ancillary ecosystem in the country.
The remaining five ships of the P 17A Class are at various stages of construction at MDL, Mumbai and GRSE, Kolkata and would be delivered progressively by end 2026, Ministry of Defence said. fiinews.com
