Sixth Nilgiri-class stealth frigate -- Mahendragiri. (Photo: Indian Navy)
New Delhi/Visakhapatnam: The Indian Navy will commission Mahendragiri, the sixth Nilgiri-class stealth frigate built under the indigenous Project 17A programme, into its Eastern Fleet at a ceremony in Visakhapatnam on July 11.
The commissioning will be presided over by the defence minister, Rajnath Singh, adding the latest vessel to a naval modernization effort built almost entirely on domestic manufacturing capability.
Designed in-house by the navy’s Warship Design Bureau and built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited in Mumbai, Mahendragiri carries more than 75 percent indigenous content, in line with the government’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat, or self-reliant India, push in defence production.
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Construction of the frigate drew on a network of more than 200 domestic firms, including micro, small and medium enterprises, generating an estimated 4,000 direct jobs and more than 10,000 indirect ones across the supply chain, according to navy figures.
The frigate is built for stealth: its hull and superstructure are shaped to reduce radar signature, and its systems are heavily automated to cut crew workload and extend endurance at sea.
Its weapons fit includes a 32-cell vertical launch system for the Barak-8 medium-range surface-to-air missile and eight BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles for strikes against ships and land targets, backed by an integrated combat management system, sonar suites and torpedoes for anti-submarine warfare.
The combination is intended to let the ship operate across anti-air, anti-surface and anti-submarine roles, in addition to maritime security patrols, search and rescue, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions.
Mahendragiri takes its name from a mountain range in the Eastern Ghats of Odisha; it is the first navy ship to carry the name. Its motto is ‘Mighty-Majestic-Matchless’.
The frigate was launched on September 1, 2023, by Sudesh Dhankhar, wife of the then vice-president, Jagdeep Dhankhar, and delivered to the navy on April 30, 2026, roughly 17 months after the class’ lead ship, Nilgiri, was handed over in December 2024.
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Mahendragiri is the sixth of seven Nilgiri-class frigates under Project 17A, a programme worth roughly ₹45,000 crore split between Mazagon Dock, which is building four ships, and Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers in Kolkata, which is building the remaining three.
Nilgiri was commissioned in January 2025, followed by Udaygiri and Himgiri in August 2025 and Taragiri in April 2026. The fifth ship, Dunagiri, joined the fleet on June 21, 2026, in Kolkata, at a ceremony attended by the prime minister, Narendra Modi. The seventh and final ship, Vindhyagiri, remains under construction at Garden Reach.
The Nilgiri class supersedes the older Shivalik-class frigates built under Project 17, with improvements in stealth shaping, automation, and sensor and weapons technology.
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Basing Mahendragiri at Visakhapatnam, headquarters of the Eastern Naval Command, strengthens the Eastern Fleet’s reach across the Bay of Bengal at a time when the navy has been expanding its footprint across the Indian Ocean region, a space it increasingly describes itself as the preferred security partner for regional states.
