Mumbai: In view of the defense needs of the country, two warships were inaugurated as part of the process of equipping the Indian Navy with modern warships. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh launched two indigenously built frontline warships of the Indian Navy, INS Surat, and INS Udayagiri at Mazagon Dock in a ceremony.
Both the Project 15-B class warships are the Indian Navy’s next-generation stealth (radar-capable) guided-missile destroyers. With the induction of these two destroyer warships in the Indian Navy, there has been a big increase in the firepower of the Indian Navy.
Equipped with indigenously built warship technology
An official of Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) said that for the first time, two indigenously built state-of-the-art warships have been commissioned. MDL is a leading public sector defense company manufacturing ships and submarines. According to the Navy, the ship ‘Surat’ is the fourth and last destroyer to be built under the Project 15-B program, which has a radar dodging system. It marked a significant overhaul of the P-15-A (Kolkata class) destroyer. It is named after the city of Surat, the commercial capital of Gujarat and the second-largest commercial center in western India after Mumbai.
Able to dodge radar
The Project 15-B class ships are the Indian Navy’s next-generation stealth (radar-capable) guided-missile destroyers, being built at Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) in Mumbai. The second frigate is part of the Udayagiri Project 17-A frigate program. The Udayagiri ship is named after a mountain range in Andhra Pradesh. This is the third vessel under Project 17-A Frigates. It is an upgraded version of the P-17 frigate (Shivalik class) equipped with improved weaponry, sensors, and platform management system. Both these 15-B and P-17-A ships have been designed by the Naval Design Directorate.
