The strength of the Indian Navy at sea is going to increase. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate two frontline warships of the Indian Navy on May 17. These warships are ‘Surat’ and ‘Udayagiri’. Surat is a warship of 15B Destroyer Project and Udayagiri is a warship of 17A Frigate Project. It is an upgraded version of the P17 frigate (Shivalik class) with improved weaponry and sensors and platform management system. They will be inaugurated at Mazagon Docks Limited in Mumbai.
Surat is the fourth ship of Project 15B Destroyers, an improved version of the P15O Destroyers (Kolkata class) and has been named the commercial capital of Gujarat. This warship is equipped with a radar dodging system. This will help in carrying out surgical strikes on Pakistan even under water. Udayagiri is the third ship of his project and is named after a mountain range in Andhra Pradesh.
An Indian Navy official said that the country will witness a historic event in the history of indigenous warship building. The official said that the Surat ship has been built using block construction methodology, which involves construction of structures at two different geographical locations. The first ship of this class was inducted into the Navy in 2021.
The second and third ships have been commissioned and are in various stages of testing. Both the 15B and P17A ships are designed by the Directorate of Naval Design.