Taragiri launched

Context

Taragiri, a Project 17A Frigate launched at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, Mumbai.

‘Taragiri’, named after a hill range in the Himalayas located at Garhwal, is the fifth ship of Project 17A Frigates.
These ships are advanced versions of the P17 Frigates (Shivalik Class) with improved stealth features, state of the art weapons and sensors and platform management systems.
‘Taragiri’ is the reincarnation of erstwhile ‘Taragiri’, the Leander Class ASW Frigate, which saw numerous challenging operations in its illustrious service to the nation spanning over three decades from 16 May 1980 to 27 Jun 2013.
Under the P17A program, a total of seven ships, with 04 at Mazagaon Dock Limited ( MDL) and 03 at Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE) are under construction.

Four P17A Project ships (two each at MDL and GRSE) have been launched so far between 2019 and 2022.

About Project 17A

The coveted ‘Project 17A’ was cleared by the government back in 2015.
It is a follow-on of the Project 17 Shivalik-class frigate for the Indian Navy.
It involves the building of seven stealth frigates at an estimated cost of Rs 50,000 crore.
Of these seven, the contract for three frigates was awarded to GRSE while the contract for another four frigates was awarded to Government-owned Mazagon Docks Limited (MDL) which is based in Mumbai.

These frigates will come armed with advanced state-of-the-art sensors and boast of top-notch stealth features.

They will represent the most advanced class of major surface warships for the Indian Navy in a decade, also featuring BrahMos supersonic surface-to-surface missiles.
These will also have torpedoes and rockets to hit submarines and rapid-fire guns to destroy anti-ship missiles as well as a heavy main gun to engage ships and coastal targets.