PRESS RELEASE
GRSE built Advanced Frigate “DUNAGIRI”
launched by Hon’ble Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath
Singh
Kolkata, 15 July 2022:
Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers
Ltd (GRSE) accomplished a key milestone
in the prestigious Project 17A today,
with the launch of
“Dunagiri” (Yard 3023) the
second of GRSE’s three Advanced
Frigates, by Shri Rajnath Singh,
Hon’ble Minister of Defence,
Government of India, the Chief Guest on
the occasion. Upholding the best of
maritime traditions, the ‘Naming
Ceremony’ of the ship was performed by
Smt Kala Hari Kumar, wife of Admiral R Hari Kumar the Chief of Naval Staff, Indian Navy.
Admiral R Hari Kumar, the Chief Of Naval
Staff, Vice Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta,
FOC-in-C Eastern Naval Command, Lt Gen
RP Kalita GOC-in-C East, Cmde PR Hari,
IN (Retd.), Chairman and Managing
Director, GRSE, and other Senior
Officials of Indian Armed Forces, GRSE
and a host of other dignitaries were
present at the occasion.
The Launch symbolises the ship’s
birth as she makes her first contact with
water. The ceremony was conducted in true
maritime Indian traditions with the
application of vermillion, breaking of
coconut on the ship’s bow and
chanting of Vedic mantras followed by the
ship being floated out of her building
dock.
With a value of around rupees nineteen
thousand two hundred crores (Rs.19200+
crores) the contract for building three
Frigates under Project 17A is the largest
order ever won by GRSE. The first ship of
the series, “INS Himgiri” was launched in
14 Dec 20, and is presently undergoing the
‘outfitting’ phase.
With a length of 149 metres, a
displacement of over 6670 T, and a
cutting-edge CODOG Propulsion system that
allows for speeds of over 28 knots, P17A
ships will be the most modern,
cutting-edge Guided Missile Frigates in
the Indian Navy’s fleet. These
sophisticated weapon platforms are
equipped with a powerful weapon &
sensor package capable of neutralising
threats in all three dimensions – Air,
Surface & Sub-surface. To improve
quality and shorten build times, P17A
Advanced Frigates are being constructed
using an Integrated Construction
Methodology and improved pre-outfitting.
M/s Fincantieri, an Italian company, is
the project’s know-how provider for
technology upgrades and capability
enhancement. Another distinctive feature
of Project 17A is that construction is
being carried out by GRSE simultaneously
with MDL, based on the basic design
created by the Directorate of Naval
Design, Indian Navy. An intelligent PDM
PLM system is also being implemented to
manage the project and aid in its life
cycle management.
Hon’ble Raksha Mantri mentioned that
launching of ‘Dunagiri’ is a significant
milestone in the journey of GRSE’s growth
story and that today’s launch demonstrates
the foresightedness of Indian Navy and
untiring efforts of GRSE’s workforce. The
Hon’ble Raksha Mantri also stated that the
construction of this highly sophisticated
platform displays the indigenous design
strength of Indian Navy, Indian Shipyards,
ancillary industries and MSMEs. The Raksha
Mantri also applauded GRSE’s fight against
Covid and continuing with the construction
of the ship irrespective of the
challenging situation at hand.
Speaking on the occasion, Admiral R Hari
Kumar termed GRSE a close and valued
partner for the Indian Navy for many
decades. He mentioned that the shipyard
has grown significantly over the years and
has a good track record in building
complex ships. He also mentioned that this
aspect was underscored with the launch of
Himgiri in Dec 20, followed by today’s
launch, within a short period of just 18
months.
Cmde PR Hari IN, (Retd) during his speech
on this historic occasion said, “It is a
proud moment for us, as we launch
“Dunagiri” the second of our
three Frigates and take the shipyard into
the league of building capital stealth
ships for the nation. Having built and
delivered 107 warships, GRSE is proud to
be a part of this growth story of nation
towards Atmanirbharta. Out of 107 ships,
70 have been built for the Indian Navy and
with 15 ships presently under construction
and few more orders on the anvil. The
shipyard is confident of delivering a
century of Warships for the Indian Navy
during this decade itself.”
As part of the Make in India initiatives
of Ministry of Defence through
indigenisation efforts, GRSE has made
commendable progress by successfully
incorporating a high percentage of
indigenous content into the ships. INS
Kamorta and INS Kadmatt, the First Two of
Class of 4 ASW Corvettes built by GRSE,
became the first warships built in the
country with indigenously developed
warship grade steel-DMR 249A. These Ships
and the Eight Landing Crafts built by GRSE
for the Indian Navy, have the distinction
of achieving over 90% Indigenous Equipment
Fit and hence a major step towards
attaining Self Reliance in
State-of-the-Art Warship Design and
Construction.
Since the takeover by the Government of
India in 1960, GRSE has produced a wide
variety of potent warships, including
Frigates, Missile & ASW Corvettes,
Landing Ship Tanks, LCUs, Fast Patrol
Vessels, and Fleet tankers. Leveraging its
modern infrastructure facilities, GRSE can
now build multiple warships by employing
advanced modular integrated shipbuilding
technology, which is on par with the best
global practices. The shipyard is now
capable of producing 20 warships
simultaneously and is ably poised to meet
the future warship requirements of Indian
Navy and Indian Coast Guard such as Next
Generation Corvettes, Frigates and Patrol
Vessels.
GRSE is presently executing an order book
of approximately Rs. 24100 crore (31 Mar
22) and working on two other significant
projects for the Indian Navy – development
of the 04 Survey Vessel Large ships and
the 08 ASW SWC ships, thus, constructing
15 Navy warships. The Shipyard also bagged
two orders for export vide International
Competitive Bidding viz 01 Ocean Going
Passenger and Cargo Vessel for Guyana and
06 Patrol Boats for Bangladesh and is
exploring new projects in Friendly Foreign
Countries.