INS Mahendragiri: All you need to know about Indian Navy’s latest warship

INS Mahendragiri will be launched by Dr Sudesh Dhankhar, wife of vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sept 1

Updated: Aug 31st, 2023


INS Mahendragiri, the final warship of Project 17A Frigates, is set to launch on Sept 1. The seventh stealth frigate (warship), built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, is armed with advanced weaponry, sensors, and an integrated management system. Project 17A aims to enhance India’s naval capabilities, countering regional challenges, especially in the Indian Ocean.

INS Mahendragiri, the seventh and final warship of Project 17A Frigates designed by Indian Navy’s warship design bureau will be launched by Dr Sudesh Dhankhar, wife of vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar. 

The seventh stealth frigate (warship) of Project-17 Alpha, ‘Mahendragiri’ was built by the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL).

The Nilgiri-class frigate (stealth guided-missile frigate) shall be fitted with advanced state-of-the-art weapons, sensors, communication facilities and other systems.

Series of ships

The first ship in the P-17A ‘Nilgiri’ was launched in Sept 2019 and is expected to go for sea trials around mid-2024.

The second ship P-17A ‘Udaygiri’ was launched in May 2022 with sea trials in the second half of 2024, and the third ‘Taragiri’ was launched in Sept 2020 with delivery expected by Aug 2025.

The construction of ‘Mahendragiri’ formally began in June 2022, and like the previous versions, it is being built with integrated construction methodology.

About Mahendragiri


- Displacement : 6,670 tonnes

- Length : 149 m

- Width : 17.8 m 

- Draft : 5.22 m  

- Speed ​​: 28 knots 

- Range : 10,200 km 

- Crew : 226

- Engines : 2 engines 

The P-17A series is valued at a total ₹27,500 crore and the MDL Mumbai is constructing four of the seven ships in this class.

Indigenously developed 

Akin to the other three frigates, the steel used in the hull construction is indigenously developed DMR 249A, a low-carbon micro-alloy grade steel manufactured by Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL).

The P-17A ships are far more advanced than any other frigates operated by the Indian Navy and come with powerful weapons and sensor packages which are capable of neutralising threats from three dimensions - air, surface and subsurface.

The home-designed ‘Mahendragiri’ shall have advanced weaponry, sensors, advanced action information system, integrated platform management system, sophisticated power distribution system, and other modern features.

Incidentally, last week president Droupadi Murmu had launched the ‘INS Vindhyagiri’ of the P-17A in Kolkata, the last of the three being built by the GRSE Ltd.

Which weapons and ammunition are fitted in Mahendragiri?

- Anti Ship Cruise Missile Design

- An air-launched missile 

- Two 30 MM rapid fire guns 

- SRGM gun and rocket launcher

- Triple tube torpedo launcher

What is Project 17A? 

A project was designed to develop an upgraded frigate to counter China’s growing interference and surveillance in the Indian Ocean, named Project 17 Alpha frigates (P-17A).

It was launched by the Indian Navy in 2019 to construct a series of stealth guided-missile frigates.

A total of seven Nilgiri category warships were planned to be manufactured in India. 

(With inputs from IANS)

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