India's Self-Reliance Boost: First Homegrown Stealth Frigate Coming 2025

A major step towards self-reliance in India's defence sector is on the horizon, as Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) prepares to deliver the first of its indigenously built Project-17 Alpha (P-17A) stealth frigates. Named “Mahendragiri,” this advanced warship is expected to join the Indian Navy's fleet by August 2025.

GRSE is making significant headway on the remaining P-17A frigates, with the second and third ships currently standing at 55% and 43% completion. These vessels are projected for delivery in February and August of 2026, respectively.

The P-17A frigates represent a technological leap forward for the Indian Navy. Boasting an impressive 75% indigenous content, they are a testament to India's growing shipbuilding capabilities. Their maiden voyage on the Arabian Sea in September 2023 was a landmark achievement for the nation.

Packed with cutting-edge features like advanced weapons, sensors, an action information system, and an integrated platform management system, the P-17A frigates surpass their predecessors, the Project 17 (Shivalik Class) frigates, in stealth, weaponry, and sensor technology.

The construction of seven P-17A frigates, split between GRSE and Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL), significantly enhances India's naval defense. This project also highlights the expertise of the nation's Warship Design Bureau in developing technologically sophisticated warships.

 

[Anant]

GRSE's first Nilgiri-class frigate is the Himgiri, not the Mahendragiri. The Mahendragiri is the last of the class, is being built by MDL, and was launched on the 1st of September last year.

Anyways, this beggars another question: Nilgiri was launched over a year before Himgiri (September 2019 vs December 2020). Nilgiri is yet to start sea trials, which means that the earliest she would be commissioned would be the very end of this year. Now, is MDL proving to be even more inefficient than GRSE, or are they facing problems with the ship? By all rights, Nilgiri should have entered service in early 2022, which, even with Covid, can allow for a 12-18 month delay, not a 36 month delay.

 

[Apocalypse gupta]

GRSE's first Nilgiri-class frigate is the Himgiri, not the Mahendragiri. The Mahendragiri is the last of the class, is being built by MDL, and was launched on the 1st of September last year.

Anyways, this beggars another question: Nilgiri was launched over a year before Himgiri (September 2019 vs December 2020). Nilgiri is yet to start sea trials, which means that the earliest she would be commissioned would be the very end of this year. Now, is MDL proving to be even more inefficient than GRSE, or are they facing problems with the ship? By all rights, Nilgiri should have entered service in early 2022, which, even with Covid, can allow for a 12-18 month delay, not a 36 month delay.

These stealth frigates are first of its class and maybe the high tech components are having issues. USN also suffered issues with their advancced ships which were ironed out much much later. Like zumwalt and LCS.

Also indigenous components percentage is much higher. There is a trend that whenever indigenous content requirement is raised, it leads to delays, same happened with tejas mk2 as well.

Also, these are the first ships ever being built usimg modular construction method in India.
Lot of firsts for this, maybe delays are due to that.

 

[Anant]

These stealth frigates are first of its class and maybe the high tech components are having issues. USN also suffered issues with their advancced ships which were ironed out much much later. Like zumwalt and LCS.

Also indigenous components percentage is much higher. There is a trend that whenever indigenous content requirement is raised, it leads to delays, same happened with tejas mk2 as well.

Also, these are the first ships ever being built usimg modular construction method in India.
Lot of firsts for this, maybe delays are due to that.

Agreed, bit logically speaking, GRSE would face similar issues with the Himgiri, wouldn't they? Historically, when GRSE has said they will deliver a warship by a given date, they have more often than not mostly adhered to that. If GRSE can do it, then so should MDL, some delays notwithstanding.

Do consider that delivery of a ship happens after sea trials, and the sea trials period lasts for atleast 6-7 months. If GRSE is planning to deliver Himgiri in another 16 months or so, then MDL should have ideally delivered Nilgiri next month, for a similar construction period. However, Nilgiri is atleast 7 months away from being delivered, and if Google Earth images are anything to go by, she doesn't look like she will be delivered for almost a year still.

 

[Priyan]

I'm so happy that atleast our Naval procurement branch is competent

 

[Apocalypse gupta]

Agreed, bit logically speaking, GRSE would face similar issues with the Himgiri, wouldn't they? Historically, when GRSE has said they will deliver a warship by a given date, they have more often than not mostly adhered to that. If GRSE can do it, then so should MDL, some delays notwithstanding.

Do consider that delivery of a ship happens after sea trials, and the sea trials period lasts for atleast 6-7 months. If GRSE is planning to deliver Himgiri in another 16 months or so, then MDL should have ideally delivered Nilgiri next month, for a similar construction period. However, Nilgiri is atleast 7 months away from being delivered, and if Google Earth images are anything to go by, she doesn't look like she will be delivered for almost a year still.

I think delivery means handing ship to navy. And it is the navy which does sea trials. So, sea trials must happen after delivery, no? I am unsure about this.

I think we should rely on official announcements. Has MDL or GRSE or navy person said anything about when these will start delivery?

 

[Prashu Sam]

There are several warships are in building stage at various shipyards in India. It is excellent news, slowly they are improving the local contents and getting cutting edge as well.

There is still problem related to overall build time, where most first world countries build within 3-4 years. ( China 2 years) Ours is still 5-7 years.

I really hope after election Mr. Gadkari given the industrial Ministry and he will bring the efficiency in delivery what we seen in Road construction.

 

[Anant]

I'm so happy that atleast our Naval procurement branch is competent

They are far more conducive to urgency than the Army or Air Force procurement branches seem to be, but even naval procurement has more than it's fair share of delays.

 

[Anant]

I think delivery means handing ship to navy. And it is the navy which does sea trials. So, sea trials must happen after delivery, no? I am unsure about this.

I think we should rely on official announcements. Has MDL or GRSE or navy person said anything about when these will start delivery?

Nope. Sea trials are broken into two phases: Builder's trials and user's trials.

When the ship is declared complete, that is, once she completes construction, the ship is sent for the first phase of sea trials. These are the builder's trials. During this time, you will have the crew assigned to the ship (part of the future naval crew and partly civilians workers) who will validate that the ship is performing as intended. These are generally fairly rough trials, where most aspects of the ship not directly connected to its warfighting capability are tested.

Once the builder's trials concluded, the ship comes back for a minor refit to fix any issues (which may be followed by more trials). Once all this is done, the ship is delivered to the Navy. The Navy then deploys the entire naval crew and conducts the user's trials, where the ship undergoes a series of trials which capture all aspects of the ship's use, with greater emphasis on the untested warfighting capabilities, obviously.

If everything is okay, the ship comes back to port, gets minor repair and refit work done (the latter if necessary), gets a fresh coat of paint, and is declared ready for commissioning, following which the commissioning ceremony occurs.

Now, MDL had claimed that Nilgiri would be delivered by mid-2024 (as of early 2023), but unless they plan to start sea trials within the next 6-8 weeks, a delivery in 2024 is unlikely.

 

[Anant]

There are several warships are in building stage at various shipyards in India. It is excellent news, slowly they are improving the local contents and getting cutting edge as well.

There is still problem related to overall build time, where most first world countries build within 3-4 years. ( China 2 years) Ours is still 5-7 years.

I really hope after election Mr. Gadkari given the industrial Ministry and he will bring the efficiency in delivery what we seen in Road construction.

The thing with that also comes from scale, as well as from construction experience. Indian shipyards have been getting better.

Take the Kolkata- Visakhapatnam-class destroyers for instance. MDL built all seven ships, and the laying down to launching to commissioning gap is as follows:

1. INS Kolkata: 2.5 years to launch, 8.5 more years to commission. Total about 11 years.
2. INS Kochi: 4 years to launch, 6 more years to commission. Total about 10 years. Kochi had more of her hull built up at launch, mind you.
3. INS Chennai: 4 years to launch, 6.5 more years to commission. Total about 10.5 years.
4. INS Visakhapatnam: 1.5 years to launch, 6.5 more years to commission. Total about 8 years.
5. INS Mormugao: 1.25 years to launch, 6.25 more years to commission. Total about 7.5 years.
6. INS Imphal: 2 years to launch, 4.5 more years to commission. Total about 6.5 years.
7. INS Surat: 4 years to launch (thanks, Covid). Estimated 3 more years to commission. Total around 7 years.

Now, if the Navy were to order 5 more Project 15C destroyers to a similar design, we may well see those ships entering service in 5-6 years from being laid down. The thing is that when you have a new design, the time taken increases.

That said, however, there is a lot of scope of improvement. We should be at a point where we can build these ships in 5 years or less.

 

[Kira]

They are far more conducive to urgency than the Army or Air Force procurement branches seem to be, but even naval procurement has more than it's fair share of delays.

I believe that is mainly because of naval construction aka the ship themselves mainly involves much lower technological sophistication as compared to fighter jets,armoured vehicles and air defence missiles.
After all,as is to be expected,the engines and weapons alongside other crucial equipment is still largely imported.
IN should be commended,but we should not lose the sight of the bigger picture.
In fact that PSU shipyards who construct IN warships are actually very inefficient in terms of delivery times as compared to other nations,and not to mention very underarmed too.

 

[Anant]

I believe that is mainly because of naval construction aka the ship themselves mainly involves much lower technological sophistication as compared to fighter jets,armoured vehicles and air defence missiles.
After all,as is to be expected,the engines and weapons alongside other crucial equipment is still largely imported.
IN should be commended,but we should not lose the sight of the bigger picture.
In fact that PSU shipyards who construct IN warships are actually very inefficient in terms of delivery times as compared to other nations,and not to mention very underarmed too.

While we do import a number of critical items for our ships, naval ship design is just as complicated as aircraft design is in many ways.

The thing is that the Navy's Warship Design Bureau is very efficient in terms of designing ships. They have essentially learnt from scratch when they started with the old Nilgiri-class frigates back in the 1960s, and have gradually grown and designed progressively larger and more advanced ships over the last 60-ish years. Had the ADA or some other similar design bureau done a similar exercise for the Army or Air Force over the last 60 years, we would be in a far better place than we are.

That said, I have highlighted below that while our construction pace is improving, there is a lot of improvement still needed. For instance, if you consider the Kolkata- and Visakhapatnam-class destroyers, we managed to bring down the time between laying down and commissioning from 11 years for INS Kolkata to about 6.5 years for INS Imphal. This shows that our shipyards are learning how to shorten construction times when ships are built at scale. The challenge is to now shorten the timelines for first-built ships of new designs. Once we crack that, then it is an iterative process to decrease construction times even further.

As for being underarmed, I would imagine you are referring to our destroyers having only 16 AShMs and 32 VLSAMs, and the frigates having only 8 AShMs and 32 VLSAMs? If so, I have a feeling (and a naval officer involved in the Project 15B design did say this a few years back) that once we have our own subsonic AShM and a VL-LRSAM, the ships may get up-gunned with these systems, to the point where the destroyers have 24 AShMs (8 subsonic and 16 supersonic) plus 64-80 VLSAMs (32-48 MRSAMs and 32 LRSAMs), and the frigates have 16 AShMs (8 subsonic and 8 supersonic) plus 64 VLSAMs.

We shall see, though. Looking at our ships, there does seem to be a lot of space where some internal re-arrangement work would give you a lot of space to mount more weapons. Perhaps this is a FFBNW variation?

 

[Aroop Gohain Baruah]

INS Nilgiri should have been commissioned in 2024.

 

[kumar]

There are several warships are in building stage at various shipyards in India. It is excellent news, slowly they are improving the local contents and getting cutting edge as well.

There is still problem related to overall build time, where most first world countries build within 3-4 years. ( China 2 years) Ours is still 5-7 years.

I really hope after election Mr. Gadkari given the industrial Ministry and he will bring the efficiency in delivery what we seen in Road construction.

There is not sufficient order to increase speed of production.

 

[desigandu]

The thing with that also comes from scale, as well as from construction experience. Indian shipyards have been getting better.

Take the Kolkata- Visakhapatnam-class destroyers for instance. MDL built all seven ships, and the laying down to launching to commissioning gap is as follows:

1. INS Kolkata: 2.5 years to launch, 8.5 more years to commission. Total about 11 years.
2. INS Kochi: 4 years to launch, 6 more years to commission. Total about 10 years. Kochi had more of her hull built up at launch, mind you.
3. INS Chennai: 4 years to launch, 6.5 more years to commission. Total about 10.5 years.
4. INS Visakhapatnam: 1.5 years to launch, 6.5 more years to commission. Total about 8 years.
5. INS Mormugao: 1.25 years to launch, 6.25 more years to commission. Total about 7.5 years.
6. INS Imphal: 2 years to launch, 4.5 more years to commission. Total about 6.5 years.
7. INS Surat: 4 years to launch (thanks, Covid). Estimated 3 more years to commission. Total around 7 years.

Now, if the Navy were to order 5 more Project 15C destroyers to a similar design, we may well see those ships entering service in 5-6 years from being laid down. The thing is that when you have a new design, the time taken increases.

That said, however, there is a lot of scope of improvement. We should be at a point where we can build these ships in 5 years or less.

Agreed, the reason China, Japan and South Korea are so far ahead of others in shipbuilding is scale but due to civilian shipbuilding...If India wants to get to 2-4 years for major naval shipbuilding, our entire industry must grow with a focus on capacity, talent, design and capability in civilian areas...Just see how US shipyards are struggling as they have hardly any civilian builds...Further, consistency in design with block type upgrades in a modular fashion over long periods of time - as an example if we had 12-18 ships for P-15B/P-18s, say 1 per year and also the same for P-17As, there would be certainty, predictability and scale...We are changing for the better but it needs more focus, investment and execution...We will/must get there, that I am certain.

 

[Anant]

Agreed, the reason China, Japan and South Korea are so far ahead of others in shipbuilding is scale but due to civilian shipbuilding...If India wants to get to 2-4 years for major naval shipbuilding, our entire industry must grow with a focus on capacity, talent, design and capability in civilian areas...Just see how US shipyards are struggling as they have hardly any civilian builds...Further, consistency in design with block type upgrades in a modular fashion over long periods of time - as an example if we had 12-18 ships for P-15B/P-18s, say 1 per year and also the same for P-17As, there would be certainty, predictability and scale...We are changing for the better but it needs more focus, investment and execution...We will/must get there, that I am certain.

The good news is that there has been some indications based on the MDL conference call recently that Project 17B may go ahead, and will essentially comprise 7 or 8 muffled Nilgiri-class frigates, again split between two yards. That should help massively.

 

[Sandeep]

This is a good and welcome necessity because we need more frontline ships to stay the dominant force in the Indian Ocean and the threats are just going to increase from Somali, Yemen, Pakistan and China. The current size of our destroyer and frigates need to be double the size and hold more missiles for defence but mainly to attack and they need to be indigenous along with introducing cheap indigenous subsonic missiles to use as a cheap and effective way rather than just cruise missiles.

At the same time we need to cut down on foreign expensive imports and especially in crucial areas like ship engines, radars, underwater drones etc as this is the only way to become self reliant and lower down the costs.

 

[NSR]

Congratulation to Indian Navy and its Warship Design Bureau (WDB) for pursuing doggedly on the manufacturing and modernization of Indian Navy warships and submarines.
P-17As, P-76s, SSBNs, and SSNs.
IAF and IN should be ashamed of their love for foreign maal and ignoring indigenous developments.
Way to go!!!

 

[Anant]

Congratulation to Indian Navy and its Warship Design Bureau (WDB) for pursuing doggedly on the manufacturing and modernization of Indian Navy warships and submarines.
P-17As, P-76s, SSBNs, and SSNs.
IAF and IN should be ashamed of their love for foreign maal and ignoring indigenous developments.
Way to go!!!

While we still have to import a lot of critical subsystems for out ships, the Navy should certainly be lauded for increasing indigenisation over time and repeatedly going for atleast indigenous construction (under license) going all the way back to the old Nilgiri-class frigates of the 1970s.

 

[Anant]

INS Nilgiri should have been commissioned in 2024.

Ideally, yes. However, unless Nilgiri starts trials within the next week or so, she won't be delivered before October or so, which would mean any chances of her commissioning in 2024 are minimal. It is quite likely she too will enter service sometime early next year, alongside INS Tamala (which is due to be delivered next March or so).

 

[kumar]

IA has a lot to learn from navy wrt indegenization.

 

[NSR]

While we still have to import a lot of critical subsystems for out ships, the Navy should certainly be lauded for increasing indigenisation over time and repeatedly going for atleast indigenous construction (under license) going all the way back to the old Nilgiri-class frigates of the 1970s.

Give them 5 years and wonderful things will happen.

India already has its own AESA radar and is under testing.
Working with Italian company for surveillance radars.
India makes its own combat systems too.

Japan may allow us to buy their cone shaped all in one radar too.

 

[Shubham]

Isn't it INS Himgiri ?? and when will be the 1st ship i.e Nilgiri will be delivered by MDL ??Indian Navy needs a lot of ships to contain China in Indian Ocean..and I don't know why Indian warships are so underarmed even after displacing more than other countries' ships..Kolkata/Vishakapatnam class ships with 7400 tonnes only has 16 universal vls cells(excluding 32 Barak 8 cells which can't launch any other missiles)..Shivalik class frigates with 6200 tonnes has 8 VLS cells and an outdated single arm SAM launcher,same with Nilgiri class frigates (8 cells) and Talwar class

 

[Anant]

Give them 5 years and wonderful things will happen.

India already has its own AESA radar and is under testing.
Working with Italian company for surveillance radars.
India makes its own combat systems too.

Japan may allow us to buy their cone shaped all in one radar too.

Oh, I agree. A lot of indigentisation is happening, which will only increase over time.

 

[Anant]

Isn't it INS Himgiri ?? and when will be the 1st ship i.e Nilgiri will be delivered by MDL ??Indian Navy needs a lot of ships to contain China in Indian Ocean..and I don't know why Indian warships are so underarmed even after displacing more than other countries' ships..Kolkata/Vishakapatnam class ships with 7400 tonnes only has 16 universal vls cells(excluding 32 Barak 8 cells which can't launch any other missiles)..Shivalik class frigates with 6200 tonnes has 8 VLS cells and an outdated single arm SAM launcher,same with Nilgiri class frigates (8 cells) and Talwar class

It has been speculated on occasion that once our subsonic AShM and VR-LRSAM systems are ready, these systems will be refitted onto the warships. It has been said that our destroyers (P-15A and P-15B, not the older Delhi-class) may eventually carry 24 AShMs (8-16 subsonic + 8-16 supersonic) and 64-80 VLSAMs (32 MRSAMs + 32-48 LRSAMs), while the frigates may end up carrying 16 AShMs (8 subsonic + 8 supersonic) and 64 VLSAMs (32 MRSAMs + 32 LRSAMs).