17A stealth frigate ‘Dunagiri’: Defence Minister Shri Rajnath Singh recently inaugurated the second Project 17A stealth frigate ‘Dunagiri’.

Key Points:

• Dunagiri frigate was launched into the Hooghly River in Kolkata.
• Rajnath Singh launches Project 17A stealth frigate 'Dunagiri.'
• The ship has been christened after the mountain range “Dunagiri” in Uttarakhand.

Mythological fact: This mountain range was brought to Sri Lanka by Lord Hanuman to bring ‘Sanjeevani Booti’ for Lord Laxman.

• It is the fourth ship of P17A Frigates.
• It is the improved version of P17 Frigates (Shivalik Class), with some improvements in stealth features, platform management systems, advanced weapons and sensors.

About Project P17A:

• Project 17A ships are advanced guided-missile frigates.
• Each of them is 149 metres long with a displacement of approximately 6,670 tonnes and a speed of 28 knots.
• The first two ships of the P17A Project named INS Nilgiri and INS Himgiri were launched in 2019 and 2020.
• INS Nilgiri was launched at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited while INS Himgiri was launched at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited.
• The third ship INS Udaygiri was launched at Mazagaon Dock Ltd (MDL) on 17 May 2022.
• The P17A frigate ‘Dunagiri’ is the reincarnation of the erstwhile ‘Dunagiri’, the Leander Class ASW Frigate, which served the nation for 33 years ( 05 May 1977 to 20 Oct 2010).
• They have witnessed various challenging operations and multinational exercises.

Significance of P17A class ships:

• All the ships under project P17A have been designed in-house by the Directorate of Naval Design (DND) of the Indian Navy.
• With the ethos of ‘self-reliant India’, 75% of the orders for equipment & system are also being placed under the project with indigenous firms including Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
• The Project 17A project involves the development of seven advanced guided-missile frigates, of which four will be built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders and the remaining three ships by GRSE.
• The ships will be named Nilgiri, Himgiri, Udaygiri, Dunagiri, Taragiri, Vindhyagiri and Mahendragiri after the names of hill ranges in India.
• These projects launch by Indian shipyards signify the advancement of self-reliance of the country.
• The project will generate employment opportunities for more than 2,000 companies and MSMEs in the country.

Launch of AI products:

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated 75 newly-developed Artificial Intelligence (AI) products, as a part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ during the first ever AI in Defence Symposium and exhibition recently.
• These products belong to different domains including AI platform automation, computer & intelligence, blockchain-based automation, cyber security, surveillance and reconnaissance, etc.