‘Mahendragiri’ delivered to Indian Navy

• Mahendragiri, the sixth ship of Nilgiri-class (Project 17A) was delivered to the Indian Navy at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDSL), Mumbai on April 30.

• Mahendragiri (Yard 12654) is the fourth ship of this class built at MDSL.

• Mahendragiri is the sixth P17A ship to be delivered to the Indian Navy in the span of less than 17 months from the delivery of the first P17A (Nilgiri) on December 20, 2024. 

Project 17A frigates

• Project 17A frigates are a follow-on class of the P17 (Shivalik Class) frigates with improved stealth features, advanced weapons and sensors and platform management systems.

• The Navy had placed orders for seven stealth frigates, four of which are being developed by Mazagon Dock Ltd (MDL) and three by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE).

• Designed by the Warship Design Bureau (WDB) and overseen by the Warship Overseeing Team (Mumbai), P17A frigates reflect a generational leap in indigenous ship design, stealth, survivability, and combat capability.

• Around 75 per cent of the orders for equipment and system of P17A ships are being placed on indigenous firms.

• The first ship of Project 17A, ‘Nilgiri’ built by MDL, was launched on September 28, 2019. 

• On January 15, 2025, the Indian Navy commissioned INS Nilgiri, the lead ship of the Project 17A class frigates.

• ‘Himgiri’, built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE), Kolkata was launched on December 14, 2020.

• The third ship ‘Udaygiri’ under the project was launched on May 17, 2022. 

• Both these multi-mission stealth frigates were commissioned into the Indian Navy on August 26, 2025.

• ‘Dunagiri’ was launched in July 2022. It was named after a mountain range in Uttarakhand. Dunagiri, built at GRSE, was delivered to the Indian Navy on March 30, 2026.

• ‘Taragiri’, named after a hill range in the Himalayas located at Garhwal, was launched in September 2022. Taragiri was commissioned into the Indian Navy on April 3, 2026. 

• ‘Vindhyagiri’, named after the mountain range in Karnataka, was launched in August 2023.

• ‘Mahendragiri’ was launched in September 2023. It is named after a mountain peak in Eastern Ghats located in the state of Odisha.

• Displacing about 6,700 tonnes, the P17A class frigates are roughly 5 per cent larger than their predecessor Shivalik-class frigates, incorporating a sleeker form with a reduced radar cross section.

• They incorporate improved stealth features, reduced radar signatures, advanced surveillance radars and electronic warfare suites, supersonic surface-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air missiles and rapid-fire gun systems. 

• These ships are configured with Combined Diesel or Gas (CODOG) propulsion plants, comprising a diesel engine and a gas turbine that drive a Controllable Pitch Propeller (CPP) on each shaft, and a state-of-the-art Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS).