COVER STORY

Indian Navy proudly celebrated the graduation of the Second Basic Hawk Conversion Course at INS Dega, Visakhapatnam. On 03 Jul 2025, Lieutenant Atul Kumar Dhull and Sub Lieutenant Aastha Poonia received the prestigious ‘Wings of Gold’ from Rear Admiral Janak Bevli, ACNS (Air). SLt Aastha Poonia becomes the first woman to be streamed into the Fighter stream of Naval Aviation – Shattering barriers and paving way for a new era of women fighter pilots in the Navy.

Indian Navy has already inducted women officers as Pilots and Naval Air Operations Officers in MR aircraft and helicopters. Streaming of SLt Aastha Poonia into the Fighter Stream highlights the Indian Navy’s commitment towards gender inclusivity in Naval Aviation and promoting Nari Shakti, fostering a culture of equality and opportunity.

Yard 12652 (Udaygiri), the second ship of Project 17A stealth frigate, being built at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDSL), was delivered to the Indian Navy on 01 July 2025. The Project is a follow-on of the Shivalik class (Project 17) frigates active in service. Udaygiri is the second among the seven P17A frigates under construction at MDL, Mumbai and GRSE, Kolkata. These multi-mission frigates are capable of operating in a ‘Blue Water’ environment dealing with both conventional and non-conventional threats in the area of India’s Maritime Interests. Udaygiri is a modern Avatar of its predecessor, erstwhile INS Udaygiri which was a Steam Ship, decommissioned on 24 August 2007 after rendering 31 years of glorious service to the nation.

P-17A ships have enhanced stealth features and fitted with ‘State of the Art’ weapons and sensors, a significant upgrade from the P17 class. The ships represent a quantum leap in Indian Navy’s in-house design capabilities at the Warship Design Bureau. The newly designed ships are also being built employing the philosophy of ‘Integrated Construction’, which involves extensive pre-outfitting at the Block stages to reduce the overall build periods. Udaygiri has been delivered to the Indian Navy, in a record time of 37 months from the date of launching.

The hull of P17A ships is geo-symmetrically larger by 4.54 % vis-à-vis P 17. These ships are fitted with an advanced weapon and sensors suite with enhanced ‘sleek and stealthy’ features compared to the P 17 class. The ships are configured with Combined Diesel or Gas (CODOG) main propulsion plants, comprising a Diesel Engine and Gas turbine, driving a Controllable Pitch Propeller (CPP) on each shaft and a state-of-the-art Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS). The weapon suite comprises supersonic Surface-to-Surface missile system, Medium-Range Surface to Air Missile system, 76 mm Gun, and a combination of 30 mm and 12.7 mm rapid-fire close-in Weapon Systems.

Aatmanirbharta in Ship Building and Employment Generation.   The delivery of Udaygiri showcases the nation’s ship design, ship construction and engineering prowess enabled by a strong industrial ecosystem supported by over 200 MSMEs. The warship is fitted with major weapons and sensors sourced from indigenous OEMs.

Plough Back. The shipbuilding requirements of the Project have led to direct employment generation for about 4,000 personnel and more than 10,000 personnel through indirect/ ancillary sources. The positive spin offs of the shipbuilding project included self-reliance, economic development, employment generation, growth of MSMEs and ancillary ecosystem in the country.

The remaining five ships of the P 17A Class are at various stages of construction at MDL, Mumbai and GRSE, Kolkata and would be delivered progressively by end 2026.