President Draupadi Murmu has launched the INS Vindhyagiri, an advanced stealth frigate, at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd’s (GRSE) facility on the banks of the Hooghly River. Among those who attended the launch along with the president were West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
This is the sixth of seven ships built under ‘Project 17 Alpha’ for the Navy. The first five ships of the project were launched between 2019 and 2022 and is the third and last stealth frigate that the Kolkata-based warship maker was contracted to build for the Navy under the project.
“The old Vindhyagiri, in its nearly 31 years of service from July 8, 1981, to June 11, 2012, had witnessed various challenging operations and multinational exercises. The newly christened Vindhyagiri stands as a symbol of India’s determination to embrace its rich naval heritage while propelling itself towards a future of indigenous defence capabilities,” announced the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Monday. By naming the new warship ‘INS Vindhyagiri’, the Navy is simply staying true to its tradition of keeping its warships or at least their memories safe.
The officials said that 75% of the orders for equipment and systems for P17A are all from local firms including MSMEs. The warship will be fitted with the latest gadgets and undergo extensive trials before being handed over to the Indian Navy for commissioning into service.
According to a GRSE official, P17A ships are guided missile frigates, each of which is 149 metres long, with the displacement of approximately 6,670 tonnes and a speed of 28 knots and are capable of neutralising threats in all three dimensions of air, land and sub-surface.
Earlier in the day President Draupadi Murmu launched the ‘My Bengal, Addiction free Bengal’ campaign under the ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan’ organised by Brahma Kumaris at Raj Bhavan. Security was tightened in the city ahead of the president’s second visit with traffic being regulated on several roads, officials said. She had last visited the state back in March.
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