The INS Udaygiri has been named after the mountain range in Andhra Pradesh. The erstwhile INS Udaygiri was commissioned in February 1976. Over the next three decades, INS Udaygiri, a steam ship, played roles in several crucial operations.
The Nilgiri class of ships have been built using an “integrated construction” philosophy, which involves extensive pre-outfitting at the block stages to reduce the overall building periods.
With their range of versatile weapons and capabilities, these ships show 'coming of age' by the Indian navy. They can play a crucial role in anti-surface warfare, anti-air warfare, and anti-submarine warfare.
Among the weapons and equipment fitted on this class of ships are Long Range Surface to Air Missiles (LRSAM), Eight Vertically launched Surface to Surface Brahmos supersonic cruise missiles, Barak 8 Anti aircraft missile, Light weight Anti-Submarine Torpedo, Indigenous Rocket Launcher (IRL), 127 mm Main Role Gun, two AK-630 rapid fire Guns and Multi Mission Surveillance Radar.
Sources say the Shakti Electronic Warfare Suite, Airborne Early Warning Radar, Surface Surveillance Radar and Sonar Humsa also come in.
The hull of P17A ships is geo-symmetrically larger by 4.54 per cent as compared to P17 Shivalik-class ships, but still has a much smaller radar cross section, making it “sleek and stealthy”.
The ships are configured with Combined Diesel or Gas (CODOG) main propulsion plants. They are each 149 metres long, with a displacement of approximately 6,670 tonnes, and have a speed of 28 knots and an endurance of 5500 NM at economical speed and 1000 NM at max speed.
New ships carry forward several glorious names
The erstwhile Nilgiri-class frigates were updated versions of the Leander class and were designed and built for the Indian Navy by MDL. Six of those ships were built between 1972 and 1981. The new Nilgiri class carries forward the names of six ships, with Mahendragiri as the seventh ship.
As stated above the INS Udaygiri has been named after the mountain range in Andhra Pradesh. These vessels took part in crucial operations, including Op Pawan in 1987 in Sri Lanka, Op Dolphin and Op Cactus in 1988, Op Madad in 1991 and Op Castor in 2005.
In 2007, the erstwhile Udaygiri came to rest and was decommissioned.
Notably, while there is no particular mountain range named Himgiri, it primarily refers to the snow-clad mountains of the Himalaya range.
The erstwhile INS Himgiri was commissioned in November 1974 and joined the Western Naval Command as the frontline warship. In 1985, the ship patrolled the Bombay High Oil Field,s safeguarding critical offshore assets. In 1988, she served in Op Cactus. Beyond combat, she played a key role in bringing relief supplies in the aftermath of the 2001 Gujarat earthquakes as part of Op Sahayata. The ship was decommissioned in May 2005.
INS Udaygiri is going to be part of the Eastern Command’s fleet, also referred to as the Sunrise Fleet. It is being commanded by Captain Vikas Sood, whose father served on board the erstwhile INS Udaygiri, which has the motto Sanyuktaha Paramojayaha – in togetherness there is great victory. INS Himgiri, which will serve under the Western Naval Command, has the motto Adrushyam Ajayam, which means “invisible and invincible”, suggesting that it is invisible on the battlefield and invincible in battle.
The road ahead: Indian Navy’s continuing indigenous march
With the commissioning of the three ships of the Nilgiri-class over, the remaining four are expected to be commissioned over the next one and a half years.
The Project-17 Bravo frigates (P-17B), which would entail construction of seven Next Generation class of frigates, which will be a follow-on for Nilgiri-class frigates, are already in the pipeline. According to sources, an “Acceptance of Necessity (AoN)” has been granted by the Defence Acquisition Council led by the Defence Minister in September last year. This class of ships is also slated to be built by the MDL and GRSE.
The P-17B ships are slated to have futuristic weapons, communication, command and control systems and are expected to have a higher percentage of indigenous content than the Nilgiri-class.
No comments:
Post a Comment