TSAMTO, March 10. The Indian company GRSE announced the ceremony of laying the keel of the third low-profile frigate (serial number Yard 3024) of the Nilgiri class, which took place on March 5 at its enterprise in Kolkata" ("Project-17A" / P-17A).
The frigate is intended for delivery to the Indian Navy.
As reported by TSAMTO, the Ministry of Defense of India announced the signing of contracts for the supply of seven Project-17A frigates to the country's Navy on February 20, 2015. The total cost of the ship construction program is estimated at $ 480 billion. The frigates are to be built by two state-owned shipbuilding companies: Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) in Mumbai and Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE) in Kolkata. MDL acts as the lead shipyard and will build four ships, GRSE – three. The cost of the contract for the construction of three frigates with GRSE was 192.93 billion rubles. Rs. This is the largest order ever received by the company.
Steel cutting for the construction of the lead ship of the series, the Nilgiri, began at MDL on February 17, 2017, and the keel was laid on December 28, 2017. The frigate was launched on September 28, 2019. The ship is scheduled to be delivered to the Indian Navy by August 2022. The second ship was laid down by MDL on 7 May 2019.
The keel laying of the first Himgiri frigate at the GRSE facility in Kolkat took place on 10 November 2018. On December 14, 2020, it was launched ahead of schedule. Steel cutting for the construction of the second frigate (factory number Yard 3023) at GRSE began on August 20, 2019, and the keel was laid on January 24, 2020.
Frigates from the second to the sixth will be named "Himgiri", "Udaigiri", "Dunagiri", "Taragiri", "Windhuagiri" and "Mahendragiri". MDL is expected to deliver its ships to the Indian Navy in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, and GRSE in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
The frigates are built according to a design developed by the Directorate of Naval Design (DND) of the Indian Navy, using the latest integrated construction methodology, which provides for more thorough pre – preparation to improve quality and significantly reduce the construction time. GRSE and MDL have reached an agreement with the Italian Fincantieri, which is a supplier of "know-how" to improve technology and expand the ability to build ships.
The Nilgiri frigate will be an improved version of the Shivalik-class frigate built within the framework of the Project-17 and will differ from it in improved stealth indicators, as well as weapons and detection systems of national production.
It is assumed that the length of the ship of the project P-17A will be 149 m, width-17.8 m, draft-5.15 m, standard displacement-6670 tons, crew-226 people. The frigates will be equipped with a main power plant of the CODOG type (combined diesel or gas), including two General Electric LM2500 gas turbine engines and a pair of diesel MAN 12V28/33D STC with a capacity of 6000 kW each, will be able to reach a maximum speed of 28 knots, a range of navigation at a speed of 16-18 knots – 5500 nautical miles. The ship's armament will include a 127-mm AU Oto Melara, a Barak-8 air defense system with an ELM-2248 radar, 8 Brahmos supersonic RCC (PJ-10), two three-tube 324-mm torpedo tubes, two 30-mm AK-630 ZAK, and two RBU-6000 rocket launchers. On board, there is a platform for placing two medium-sized helicopters.
