Indian shipbuilder laid keel of 3rd Project 17A class stealth frigate

Indian shipbuilder Magazon Dock has started the construction of the third Project-17A (Nilgiri class) Stealth frigate, INS Udaygiri, with a keel-laying ceremony on 12th September, The Indian Ministry of Defence has announced.

Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MDL) and Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) are responsible for the construction of the P17A ships. MDL is building four P17A ships for the Indian Navy, while GRSE is constructing three. The first ship is scheduled to join the Indian Navy in late 2021.

The frigates are being constructed with indigenously developed steel and will be equipped with weapons and sensors, as well as an Integrated Platform Management System.

In February last year, GE Marine received a contract to supply gas turbine auxiliary equipment for the LM2500 engines integrated into the new P17A stealth frigates.

The Ministry of Defence said in a statement: “Construction of P17A ships differ in the very concept of warship building by way of adoption of the modern technology ‘Integrated Construction (IC)’, where the blocks are pre-outfitted before joining to reduce the build period of warships.

“When commissioned the platforms will enhance the combat capability of the Indian Naval fleet.”

Project 17A class frigates :

Project 17A (P17A)-class is a new class of stealth frigates under construction for the Indian Navy as a follow-on of the Project 17 (P17) Shivalik-class frigates currently in service.

The P17A class frigates are being built using indigenously developed steel. Construction of P17A ships differ in the very concept of warship building by way of adoption of the modern technology ‘Integrated Construction (IC)’ where the blocks are pre-outfitted before joining to reduce the build period of warships. When commissioned the platforms will enhance the combat capability of the Indian Naval fleet.

The P17A class frigates will have enhanced stealth features, and will also feature better roll stabilisation and a discreet visual profile. These ships are being built using indigenously developed steel and fitted with state-of-the-art weapon and sensor systems along with advanced Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS).

The 6,670-tonne frigates will be equipped with Barak 8 long range surface-to-air missile (LR-SAM), BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, EL/M-2248 MF-STAR multi-function active electronically scanned array (AESA) naval radar system, Ajanta electronic warfare (EW) system and Humsa-NG sonar.

Each P17A frigate will be powered by two GE LM2500 marine gas turbines and two diesel engines in a combined diesel or gas (CODOG) turbine configuration. The Industrial and Marine Gas Turbine division of the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is assembling the LM2500 gas turbines in India under license from GE (General Electric).

The crew complement of the frigates will be reduced from the existing 257 (including 35 officers) to about 150 by using high levels of automation, which will reduce the operational costs by around 20 percent and result in higher operational availability of the warships.

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