INS Mahendragiri commissioned at Visakhapatnam, sixth Project 17A frigate in the water

INS Mahendragiri commissioned into the Indian Navy at Visakhapatnam on Friday, with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh presiding as the sixth Project 17A stealth frigate joined the Eastern Fleet.

The induction caps a run the Navy has sustained since January 2025. INS Nilgiri came first, then INS Udaygiri and INS Himgiri together in August that year, INS Taragiri in April, and INS Dunagiri at Kolkata last month. Six frigates of one class in about eighteen months.

Mahendragiri, pennant F38, is the fourth and last of the Mazagon Dock hulls in the programme, as India Defence Wire noted in its report ahead of the ceremony. The seventh ship by launch order, GRSE-built Vindhyagiri, is still to commission.


INS Mahendragiri commissioned with over 75 percent indigenous content

Designed by the Indian Navy's Warship Design Bureau and built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited in Mumbai, the frigate displaces roughly 6,670 tonnes and can make 28 knots. The Ministry of Defence lists her tasking as fleet air defence, anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare, maritime interdiction, surveillance, and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

The Defence Minister walked the audience through the weapons fit himself.

"INS Mahendragiri can be equipped with the BrahMos surface-to-surface missile, one of the world's fastest and most lethal cruise missiles," Rajnath Singh said, adding that a multifunction radar paired with surface-to-air missiles gives the ship the ability to detect and neutralise aerial threats at extended ranges. An indigenous rocket launcher, torpedo launchers, an Integrated Anti-Submarine Defence System, an electronic warfare suite and a close-in weapon system round out the arsenal, alongside an embarked multi-role helicopter. The BrahMos production line crossed its hundredth indigenous booster at Nagpur only weeks ago.



Operation Sindoor cited as the model for mixing old and new capability

Rajnath Singh used the dais to push back on the idea that emerging technology has retired conventional platforms. Drones, artificial intelligence, cyber warfare, space-based systems, hypersonic weapons and unmanned platforms have transformed how wars are fought, he said, but conventional military capability remains the bedrock of defence.

"Future wars may be fought with Artificial Intelligence, but they will still be won by national resolve, trained soldiers and credible military power," he said, naming Operation Sindoor as a prime example of conventional and modern capabilities working in combination.

"It is a matter of immense pride for me to be among you on the occasion of the commissioning of INS Mahendragiri," the Defence Minister said, extending congratulations to every employee of Mazagon Dock, the Indian Navy, the ship's crew and the people of the country.

Rs 9,000 crore in escorted cargo under Operation Urja Suraksha

Maritime security and economic security are tied together, the Defence Minister argued, with the seas carrying trade, supply chains and energy alongside naval power. He restated the government's commitment to the SAGAR vision for the region.

During the West Asia conflict, he said, the Navy escorted 18 merchant vessels carrying cargo valued at over Rs 9,000 crore under Operation Urja Suraksha. That record, along with anti-piracy missions, disaster relief and evacuations of Indian and foreign nationals, has made the Navy a First Responder and Preferred Security Partner in the Indo-Pacific.

He also placed the ship inside a wider industrial push, citing the Maritime India Vision 2030, the Maritime Development Fund, the Shipbuilding Financial Assistance Scheme and the Shipbuilding Development Scheme as measures meant to build India into a global shipbuilding hub.

Navy chief lists the build-time records

Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Krishna Swaminathan called the frigate a symbol of India's growing maritime capability and technological self-reliance, and put numbers on what the programme has achieved beyond indigenous content.

Launch to delivery came down by about half, from 63 months to 31. Total construction time fell by roughly a fifth, from 95 months to 75. And the ship completed all technical analyses in a single sea trial, against the usual five to seven.

Adm Krishna Swaminathan credited the results to Mazagon Dock, Indian manufacturers, MSMEs, the Warship Overseeing Team, trial agencies and the crew.

Mighty, Majestic, Matchless

Named after the Mahendragiri range in the Eastern Ghats, the ship carries the motto Mighty, Majestic, Matchless. More than 200 Indian industries, including numerous MSMEs, contributed to the build, and she runs a Combined Diesel or Gas propulsion system with an Integrated Platform Management System. With INS Mahendragiri commissioned into the Eastern Fleet, the Navy's Sunrise Fleet, India's reach in the Indian Ocean Region deepens under the MAHASAGAR vision.

The ceremony closed with the traditional breaking of the Commissioning Pennant and the maiden hoisting of the National Flag onboard. Vice Adm Sanjay Bhalla, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command, Capt Jagmohan (Retd), Chairman and Managing Director of Mazagon Dock, senior naval officers, veterans and shipbuilding industry representatives attended.