This will be the third and final Project 17A frigate built by GRSE. For the record, the first-in-class ship, Nilgiri , was launched in September 2019 by Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL). The first Project 17A frigate built by GRSE, Himgiri, was launched in December 2020. Seven vessels of the class are planned. Four will be built by MDL and three by GRSE. MDL laid the keel of two more Project 17A ships: One in May 2019 and another one in September 2020. GRSE laid the keel of its second frigate of the class in January 2020. MDL still has to lay the keel of one last ship.
According to official data, 80 percent of the Project 17A frigates construction is done with Indian-made materials and equipment. More than 2000 local firms are involved in the supply chain.
Project 17A is the largest surface combatant ever built by GRSE. It is also the first combat platform GRSE builds equipped with a gas turbine. For this reason, the company had to expand the infrastructure of the Kolkata shipyard and modernize production.
About Project 17A / Nilgiri-class frigate
The Nilgiri-class frigate or Project 17A is a follow-on of the Project 17 Shivalik-class frigate for the Indian Navy. The frigates are built with extensive use of low-observability technologies, including new radar-absorbing coatings, composite materials and “faceted” shape superstructures.
The ship will be fitted with a 127mm main gun, two 30 mm AK-630M anti-aircraft artillery systems, two torpedo tubes, launchers for eight BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles and 32 Barak-8 surface to air missiles. Its main radar will be the MF-STAR by IAI.
Project 17A frigates main characteristics
- Displacement: 6,670 tons
- Length: 149 meters
- Width: 17,8 meters
- Draft: 5,22 meters
- Speed: 28 knots
- Range: 5,500 nautical miles
- Crew: 226 sailors
