INS Vindhyagiri Project 17A
Source: PIB
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Overview
- News in Brief
- About INS Vindhyagiri
Why in News?
President Droupadi Murmu launched INS Vindhyagiri, an advanced stealth frigate, at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd’s (GRSE) facility on the banks of River Hooghly in Kolkata.
News in Brief
- West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Governor SCV Ananda Bose, Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and other senior officials were also present during the launch ceremony.
- INS Vindhyagiri is the sixth stealth frigate built under Project 17A at the GRSE.
- After the launch, INS Vindhyagiri will join its two sister ships at the outfitting jetty at GRSE, to progress on remaining activities and equipment trials, in the run-up to their delivery and commissioning.
About INS Vindhyagiri
- Project 17A Frigates are the follow-on class of the Project 17 (Shivalik Class) Frigates.
- It has improved stealth features, advanced weapons & sensors and platform management systems.
- Seven Project 17A Frigates are under various stages of construction at MDL and GRSE.
- This is the third and last stealth frigate that the Kolkata-based warship maker was contracted to build for the Navy under the project.
Significance of the launch
- With the launch, the Nation’s indigenous expertise and engineering capabilities receives a major boost, reducing India’s dependence on
foreign suppliers, promoting self-reliance and fostering a robust defence industrial base. - The design of Advanced Stealth Frigates also showcases the prowess of the Warship Design Bureau, in designing technologically advanced warships for the Indian Navy.
- Over 75% of the orders of Project 17A, have been placed on indigenous firms including MSMEs, keeping in line with the Government’s vision of ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat’.
- Economic development, employment generation, growth of MSMEs and ancillary industry in the country, are positive spin offs of the shipbuilding project.
Project 17A
- The Nilgiri-class frigates, formally classified as the Project-17 Alpha frigates (P-17A), are a series of stealth guided-missile frigates currently being built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MDL) and Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), for the Indian Navy.
- Through the use of composite materials, radar-absorbent coatings, and low-observable/radar-transparent technologies, the frigate’s design incorporates a significant amount of stealth and low radar-observability.
- The aforementioned materials help the vessel maintain a low radar cross-section (RCS).
- Adoption of Integrated modular construction
- Manufacturing process in which multiple modules of a vessel’s hull are pre-assembled/pre-outfitted independently, before final assembly.
- First time it was adopted in India.
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