India has recently taken a big decision to increase the strength of its navy. The Defense Ministry of the Government of India has cleared a mega ₹70,000 crore order for eight new frigates warships for the Indian Navy. The stealth frigates will be the most advanced ships to be built in India and are a follow-on of the Nilgiri class that are currently under construction. These new warships could be made in Mazagon Dockyards Limited (MDL) and Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE). The two yards are currently constructing frigates under Project 17A (Nilgiri class). MDL is making four of the frigates while GRSE is executing an order for three. The advanced frigates will have high indigenous content, which will include locally developed fire control system, Brahmos cruise missiles, anti-submarine weapons and electronic warfare systems.
India has 7 frigate ships of Nilgiri class, 3 of Shivalik class, 6 of Talwar class and 3 of Brahmaputra class. The most advanced frigate ship among these is the Nilgiri class. This is a guided missile stealth frigate ship and also has the features of a destroyer. The Nilgiri class frigate ship can withstand any kind of fighter aircraft, anti-ship missile, UAV, ballistic missile and cruise missile attack. can neutralise it. This ship is equipped with advanced HUMSA-NG sonar system. HUMSA-NG sonar system capable of detecting, localizing, classifying and tracking sub-surface targets in both active and passive modes.
Nilgiri class figurehead ships are equipped with AESA radar system and It is equipped with surface search radar. The AESA radar can rotate 360 degrees and track aerial and surface targets up to a range of 450 km. It is also equipped with anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare systems. Two anti-torpedo decoy systems and four decoy launchers which presumably may be the NSTL Maareech torpedo-countermeasure system and the Kavach anti-missile decoy launchers, respectively.
Nilgiri frigates armament:-
32-cell VLS launched Barak 8 missiles
8-cell VLS launched BrahMos , anti-ship and land-attack cruise missiles
1 × Oto Melara 76 mm (3.0 in)
2 × AK-630 30 mm (1.2 in) CIWS
2 × triple-torpedo tubes (Varunastra)
2 × RBU-6000 Anti-submarine rocket launchers
The Nilgiri class frigate ship has a speed of 59 kilometers per hour in the sea and this is the highest among any frigate ship in the world. Its range is about 10 thousand kilometers. Two Dhruv helicopters can be easily deployed on it. All the Nilgiri class warships built under Project 17A are ready to increase the strength of the Indian Navy and in the coming time, eight more frigate ships will be added to answer the enemy in the sea.
(Disclaimer: All the information taken from public domain and internet, only for knowledge and editorial use.)
