The Indian Navy marked an important achievement on Tuesday with the delivery of the indigenously built stealth Frigate Udaygiri.

Yard 12652 which is Udaygiri and the second ship under Project 17A was constructed by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited and became the 100th ship to be designed and delivered by the Navy’s own Warship Design Bureau.

The Indian Navy stated in its release, "The Project is a follow-on of the Shivalik class (Project 17) frigates that are currently in service. Udaygiri is the second of the seven P17A frigates being built at MDSL, Mumbai and GRSE, Kolkata. It is going to strengthen the Indian Navy's blue water capabilities in the future."

The Navy also said, "These multi-mission frigates can operate in a 'Blue Water' environment, addressing conventional and non-conventional threats in the region of India's maritime interest."

Udaygiri is a modern version of the earlier INS Udaygiri, which was a steam-powered ship that served the country for 31 years and was decommissioned on 24 August 2007.

The P-17A class ships come with better stealth features and are equipped with advanced weapons and sensors, which are a big improvement over the earlier P17 class and reflect a major step forward in the Navy’s design capabilities at the Warship Design Bureau.

These ships are also being built using the approach of 'Integrated Construction', which involves heavy pre-outfitting at the block stage to reduce the total construction time.

Udaygiri was delivered to the Navy in just 37 months from its launch, which is a record, and it carries a modern weapons and sensor package with improved sleek and stealth characteristics compared to the P17 class.

These ships are powered by a Combined Diesel or Gas propulsion system, which includes both a diesel engine and a gas turbine, and each shaft is driven by a Controllable Pitch Propeller while the ships are fitted with a next-generation Integrated Platform Management System.

The warship is armed with a supersonic surface-to-surface missile system a medium-range surface-to-air missile system, a 76 mm gun and a combination of 30 mm and 12.7 mm rapid fire close-in weapon systems.

The Navy explained that this warship is another example of self-reliance in naval shipbuilding and also supports employment. It said the delivery of Udaygiri highlights the country’s strength in ship design and construction, made possible by a strong industrial network involving more than 200 micro, small and medium enterprises.

The Navy confirmed that many of the major weapons and sensors on the ship were made by Indian companies and said that this project has also contributed economically.

"The shipbuilding needs of the Project have resulted in direct employment generation of approximately 4,000 staff and over 10,000 staff through indirect/ ancillary sources. The favourable spin-offs of the shipbuilding project are self-reliance, economic growth, employment creation, development of MSMEs and an ancillary ecosystem in the nation," said the Force.

The remaining five ships in the P17A series are at different stages of construction at MDSL in Mumbai and at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers in Kolkata and will be delivered step by step by the end of 2026.

The Warship Design Bureau, which was earlier called the Department of Naval Design, is the Navy’s in-house design agency and has become fully self-sufficient in the design and construction of modern warships, including aircraft carriers, other combat vessels and submarines.