India to witness launch of Two frontline warships of Indian Navy in Mumbai on May 17

On May 17, the country will witness a watershed moment in the history of indigenous warship construction when two frontline warships of the Indian Navy are launched simultaneously at Mazgaon Docks Limited in Mumbai.

Both the 'Surat', a Project 15B Destroyer, and the 'Udaygiri,' a Project 17A Frigate, will be launched, with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh as the chief guest.

The Indian Navy's next-generation stealth guided missile destroyers, Project 15B, are being built at the Mazgaon Docks Limited. 'Surat' is the fourth ship of the Project 15B Destroyers, which marks the start of a major reform of the P15A (Kolkata Class) Destroyers. It is named after Gujarat's commercial capital and Western India's second largest commercial hub after Mumbai.

‘Udaygiri’, named after a mountain range in the state of Andhra Pradesh, is the third ship of Project 17A Frigates. It is the reincarnation of erstwhile ‘Udaygiri’, the Leander Class ASW Frigate, which saw numerous challenging operations in its illustrious service to the country spanning over three decades from 18 Feb 1976 to 24 Aug 2007.

A total of seven ships are being built under the P17A programme, with four at MDL and three at GRSE. Integrated Construction, Mega Block Outsourcing, Project Data Management/ Project Lifecycle Management (PDM/PLM), and other novel concepts and technologies were used for the first time in indigenous warship design and construction in this project.

The Directorate of Naval Design (DND), which has served as the nation's focal point for all warship design activities, designed both the 15B and P17A ships in-house.