The Stealth Frigate INS Dunagiri Is Preparing To Launch Into The Hooghly River

On Friday, the Indian Navy Ship (INS) Dunagiri, one of seven stealth frigates being built by India under Project 17A, will be launched into the Hooghly River near Kolkata. The launch is a critical milestone in the construction of a warship. It means that the ship can float while the rest of the construction, particularly the superstructure, is completed.

INS Dunagiri, like all the frigates in Project 17A, is named after a mountain range in India. Project 17 resulted in three frigates: INS Shivalik in 2010, INS Satpura in 2011, and INS Sahyadri in 2012.

Dunagiri is Project 17A’s fourth warship. These 6,600-tonne guided missile frigates are the successors to the three-frigate Project 17, known as the Shivalik-class. Project 17A frigates, on the other hand, have improved stealth features, advanced weapons and sensors, and platform management systems.

INS Dunagiri is the reincarnation of an earlier frigate of the same name, which was part of the Leander class of six frigates. The first two Project 17A warships, INS Nilgiri and INS Himgiri, were launched in 2019 and 2020, respectively, at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers) and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE). INS Udaygiri, the third ship, was launched at MDL in May of this year.

During INS Dunagiri’s previous 33 years of operational service, from May 1977 to October 2010, she witnessed a variety of challenging operations and multinational exercises, according to the navy on Thursday.

“The launch of the fourth ship in such a short period attests to the impetus provided towards self-reliant shipbuilding with a focused approach,” the Ministry of Defence stated (MoD).

The Indian Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design designed all of the Project 17A guided missile frigates in-house (DND). In the past, the DND has spearheaded the design of numerous indigenous warship classes.

The Nilgiri-class frigates, named after the first-of-class vessel, were the first Indian warships to see significant levels of design and indigenisation by the navy.

The seven Project 17A frigates are the first Indian warships to use modular shipbuilding technologies, for which MDL and GRSE shipyards were significantly upgraded.