New Delhi, July 14. Dunagiri, a Project 17A frigate, will be launched into the Hooghly river at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited, Kolkata on July 15. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be the Chief Guest for the event.
Christened after a mountain range in the state of Uttarakhand, ‘Dunagiri’ is the fourth ship of P17A Frigates. These are follow-on of the P17 Frigates (Shivalik Class) with improved stealth features, advanced weapons and sensors and platform management systems. ‘Dunagiri’ is the reincarnation of the erstwhile ‘Dunagiri’, the Leander Class ASW Frigate, which in her 33 years of service from May 5, 1977 to October 20, 2010, had witnessed various challenging operations and multinational exercises. The soul of a ship lives eternally and finds a suitable ship. The first two ships of P17A Project, were launched in 2019 and 2020 at MDL and GRSE respectively. The third ship (Udaygiri) was launched at MDL on May 17, 2022 earlier this year. The launch of the fourth ship within such a short span is a testimony to the impetus provided towards self-reliant shipbuilding with a focused approach.
P17A ships have been designed in-house by Indian Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design (DND), which has successfully spear-headed design of numerous class of indigenous warships in the past. This is a testimony of nation’s unwavering efforts towards ‘AatmaNirbharata’ as 75% of the orders for equipment & system are also being placed on indigenous firms including MSMEs.
