INS Udaygiri & INS Himgiri Commissioned into Indian Navy at Visakhapatnam

Under Project 17A, INS Udaygiri and INS Himgiri, stealth guided missile frigates of the Nilgiri class promoting self-reliant India, were inducted into the Navy together. INS Udaygiri has been inducted into the Eastern Command and INS Himgiri into the Western Naval Command.

• On August 26, 2025, the Indian Navy inducted two Nilgiri-class stealth guided missile frigates, INS Udaygiri and INS Himgiri, together at Visakhapatnam.
• The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said that this is the first time that two major surface combatant ships from two different Indian shipyards have been commissioned together.
• INS Udaygiri is the second ship of the Project 17A stealth frigates built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL), Mumbai.
• INS Himgiri is the first of the Project 17A ships built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata.

INS Udaygiri

• Udaygiri is named after the mountain range in Andhra Pradesh. The erstwhile INS Udaygiri was commissioned into the Navy in February 1976.
• As another major achievement for the Indian Navy, INS Udaygiri is the 100th ship designed by the Navy’s in-house Warship Design Bureau.
• According to the Indian Navy, over the next three decades, the steam ship INS Udaygiri played a role in many important operations, including Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka in 1987, Operation Dolphin and Operation Cactus in 1988, Operation Madad in 1991, and Operation Castor in 2005. In 2007, the erstwhile Udaygiri was decommissioned and retired from service.

INS Himgiri

• Although there is no specific mountain range named Himgiri, it primarily refers to the snow-covered mountains of the Himalayas. The erstwhile INS Himgiri was commissioned into the Navy in November 1974 and became part of the frontline warships in the Western Naval Command.
• In 1985, this ship patrolled in the Bombay High Court area, protecting oil fields and vital offshore assets. In 1988, it served in Operation Cactus. Apart from war, it also played an important role under Operation Sahayata in delivering relief material after the Gujarat earthquake in 2001. This ship was decommissioned in May 2005.

Eastern Command and Western Naval Command 

• INS Udaygiri is going to be part of the fleet of the Eastern Command, also called the Sunrise Fleet. It is commanded by Captain Vikas Sood, whose father served on the erstwhile INS Udaygiri, whose motto is Samyuktah Paramjayah - In unity lies great victory.
• INS Himgiri, which will operate under the Western Naval Command, has the motto Adrishyam Ajayam, which means “Invisible and Invincible,” indicating that it is invisible on the battlefield and invincible in war.

Self-reliant India

• So far in 2025, several indigenous platforms have been inducted, including the destroyer INS Surat, the warship INS Nilgiri, and the submarine INS Vagsheer. All these ships were built by MDL and launched together in Mumbai in January. In addition, the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) shallow water craft INS Arnala and the diving support vessel INS Nistar have also been included.

Nilgiri-class stealth guided missile frigates

• The Nilgiri-class stealth frigates are being built under the codename Project 17 Alpha. They are successors to the Shivalik-class or Project 17 frigates, which are currently active in service. The frigate commissioned in January, INS Nilgiri, was the first of the seven frigates of Project 17A.
• Out of the seven-member class of ships, four - Nilgiri, Udaygiri, Taragiri, and Mahendragiri - are being built by MDL, and three - Himgiri, Dunagiri, and Vindhyagiri - are being built by GRSE. The Ministry of Defence has said that about 75 percent of the orders for equipment and systems of the Nilgiri class have been given to indigenous firms.
• The previous Nilgiri-class frigates were advanced versions of the Leander class and were designed and built by MDL for the Indian Navy. Six of these ships were built between 1972 and 1981. The new Nilgiri-class ship continues the names of the six ships, with Mahendragiri being the seventh ship.

Project-17 Bravo Frigate (P-17B)

• Under this, the construction of seven next-generation frigates, which will succeed the Nilgiri-class frigates, is already in the pipeline. According to sources, the “Acceptance of Necessity (AoN)” was granted last September by the Defence Acquisition Council chaired by the Defence Minister.
• The ships of this class are also to be built by MDL and GRSE. P-17B ships will have future weapons, communication, command, and control systems, and are expected to have a higher percentage of indigenous content compared to Nilgiri-class ships.