India Commissions INS Mahendragiri, Sixth Nilgiri-Class Stealth Frigate
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh commissioned INS Mahendragiri, the sixth Project 17A stealth frigate, at the Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam on July 11, 2026, leaving one ship of the class still to enter service.
The Indian Navy commissioned INS Mahendragiri, its sixth Project 17A (Nilgiri-class) stealth frigate, at the Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam on July 11, 2026. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh presided over the ceremony, attended by Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Krishna Swaminathan.
Mahendragiri was designed by the Indian Navy's Warship Design Bureau and built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) in Mumbai, with over 75 percent indigenous content drawn from a wide network of Indian industries and small and medium enterprises. "This indigenously designed and constructed state-of-the-art warship is a testament to our Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision," Singh said at the ceremony. The frigate is the first Indian Navy warship to carry the name, taken from the Mahendragiri mountain in the Eastern Ghats.
Project 17A comprises seven guided-missile frigates that follow on from the Shivalik class with enhanced stealth shaping, upgraded weapons and sensors, and improved platform management systems. The commissioning pace has been rapid: lead ship INS Nilgiri entered service in January 2025, followed by INS Udaygiri and INS Himgiri in August 2025, INS Taragiri in April 2026 and INS Dunagiri in June 2026 — six frigates inducted in roughly a year and a half. One ship of the class remains to be commissioned.
The program has also compressed Indian shipbuilding timelines. According to Indian officials, the interval from launch to delivery was cut by about half over the course of the class, from 63 months to 31 months, while total construction time fell from 95 to 75 months.
The Nilgiri class arrives as the Indian Navy modernizes its escort force, which GlobalMilitary.net data shows is currently built around three Shivalik-class and a larger number of Russian-designed Talwar-class frigates alongside indigenous destroyers. India has made domestic warship construction a centerpiece of its defense-industrial policy, with most major surface combatants now built in Indian yards.
The final Project 17A frigate is expected to join the fleet in the coming months, completing the seven-ship, multi-billion-dollar program.
More News
All news →
Algeria Flies Four Su-30s and a Tanker Into Niamey After the Failed Mutiny in Niger
Four Algerian Air Force Su-30MKA fighters and an Il-78 tanker landed at Niamey's Diori Hamani International Airport on August 30, 2026, a day after Nigerien forces put down a mutiny by soldiers in the capital, in what AeroTime calls a rare overseas combat deployment for Algeria.
Iran Claims Drone Strikes on Al Minhad Air Base, UAE Denies Its Base Was Targeted
Iran's army said it attacked Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates with drones on August 31, 2026. The Emirati defense ministry denied the base was targeted and said its air force engaged a drone approaching from Iran.
Only Five Countries Field ICBMs Today: How Their Land-Based Arsenals Compare
Russia's Yars test from Plesetsk on August 27, 2026 is a reminder that intercontinental ballistic missiles remain the preserve of five states: GlobalMilitary.net counts twelve ICBM designs in service, four of them Russian and only one American.
Ukraine Parades Nine Naval Drones on the Dnipro, from Air-Defense Fits to a Drone Carrier
Kyiv's 35th Independence Day parade on 24 August 2026 carried no tanks and no marching troops: nine unmanned surface vessels ran down the Dnipro, in air-defense, drone-carrier, rocket-artillery and strike configurations that show Ukraine's sea drones splitting into specialized roles.
Poland Receives First 28 K2 Black Panther Tanks Under Its Second Hyundai Rotem Contract
The first 28 K2 tanks of Poland's second 180-vehicle order arrived on 25 August 2026 and will equip the 16th Mechanized Division, a year after the follow-on contract took effect.
China's Antelope Reef Reaches 1,500 Acres in Ten Months as Runway Grading Begins
Satellite imagery dated 11 August 2026 shows the Paracel Islands feature turned into a 3.7-mile landmass with a deep-water quay and a 10,000-foot runway under grading, ten months after dredging began.