Rajnath To Commission 2 Advanced Ships In Vizag On Tuesday

This is the first time that two major surface combatants from two prestigious shipyards are being commissioned at the same time here.

Rajnath Singh would arrive at the INS Dega at 12.30pm and proceed to the Chola suite at the Naval Base. From 2.05pm to 2.45pm, he would be at a presentation and briefing. At 3pm, he would commission the two frigates, Himgiri and Udaygiri, at INS Circars Jetty. He would fly from the airport to Indore at 5pm.

Defence sources said this would be the first joint induction of major warships from different Indian shipyards. The ships arrived at the naval dockyard two days ago. After commissioning, they would operate from the Eastern Naval Command.

An official release said Udaygiri, the second ship of the Project 17A stealth frigates, was built by the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd in Mumbai, while Himgiri is the first of the P17A ships erected by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, Kolkata.

Udaygiri is the 100th ship designed by the Navy's warship design bureau. Both the ships represent a generational leap over earlier designs. Displacing about 6,700 tonnes, the P17A frigates are roughly five per cent larger than their predecessor Shivalik-class frigates and yet incorporate a sleeker form, with a reduced radar cross section.

They are powered by Combined Diesel or Gas propulsion plants using diesel engines and gas turbines that drive controllable-pitch propellers and are managed through an integrated platform management system.

The weapon suite includes supersonic surface-to-surface missiles, medium-range surface-to-air missiles, a 76mm MR gun, a combination of 30 mm and 12.7mm close-in weapon systems, and the anti-submarine/underwater weapon systems, the release added.