MUMBAI: Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday launched ‘Mahendragiri’, the fourth Stealth Frigate of Project-17 Alpha, being built by the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL). The warship will become part of the Navy in 2027 after further trials at sea.

Mahendragiri is the seventh of the Nilgiri class ships to be built under the Atmanirbhar Bharat project. Named after a mountain peak in the Eastern Ghats in Odisha, the keel of ‘Mahendragiri’ was laid in June 2022, and like the previous versions, is being built with integrated construction methodology.

Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Navy Chief Admiral R Harikumar and others were present. The ‘Mahendragiri’ will be around 149 metres long and 16 metres wide, with a displacement of around 6,600 tons and a speed of some 30 knots.

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 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 sub-surface.

The indigenously-designed ‘Mahendragiri’ will have state-of-the-art weaponry, sensors, advanced action information system, integrated platform management system, world-class modular living spaces, sophisticated power distribution system and other modern features.

It will be fitted with a supersonic surface-to-surface missile system, and its air defence capability designed to counter enemy aircraft threats and anti-ship cruise missiles will revolve around the vertical launch and long-range surface-to-air missile system.