President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday launched an advanced stealth frigate christened INS Vindhyagiri, at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE) — a government facility situated on the banks of River Hooghly in Kolkata.
INS ‘Vindhyagiri’ named after a mountain in Karnataka is the sixth of the seven war ships built under 'Project 17 Alpha' for the India Navy. The earlier five ships have already been launched between 2019 and 2022.
The President after the launch of the frigate said that Vindhyagiri was a move forward in enhancing India’s maritime capabilities and achieving the goal of Atmanirbhar Bharat — a coinage that would eventually lead India up from the world's fifth largest economy to third largest one. According to a senior official of the GRSE about 75 per cent of the components or parts of the ship were manufactured in India. Fitted with state-of-the-art gadgets including armoury the ship would undergo extensive trials before being transferred to the Indian Navy. The ship is an answer to Chinese naval ambitions in the Indian Ocean region.
Vindhyagiri is a part of the Shivalik Class or Project 17 Class frigates armed with 149 metres long guided missile frigates. These have a displacement of around 6,670 tonnes and a speed of 28 knots, according to a GRSE official. “These can neutralize threats in all three dimensions of air, surface and sub-surface,” the official said.