The Indian Navy took delivery of a new stealth frigate from Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders (MDL) of Mumbai in a ceremony on Saturday, November 29.
The future INS Taragiri is the fourth ship in the Nilgiri-class built by MDL. The first three ships in the class, INS Nilgiri, INS Udaygiri and INS Himgiri, have already been commissioned into service.
Design work on the future Taragiri was undertaken by the Indian Navy’s own Warship Design Bureau. Her missions will include anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, and anti-air warfare.
Armament includes a 76mm naval gun, two 30mm close-in weapon systems, 32 Barak 8 surface-to-air missiles housed in vertical launch system (VLS) cells, eight BrahMos anti-ship missiles also housed in VLS cells, torpedoes, anti-submarine rockets, and two 12.7mm machine guns fitted on remotely controlled weapons mounts.
The Nilgiri-class frigates are notable for being among the first Indian Navy surface ships built using the integrated modular construction methodology. Through this approach, entire blocks are already pre-assembled and pre-outfitted with some of the essential onboard systems and then integrated with each other to form the hull.
