At sea: On the Indian Navy's Project 17A and indigenisation gaps

📌 Summary:

• This editorial critically examines Project 17A — the Indian Navy's Rs 45,000-crore programme to build 7 Nilgiri-class frigates — and highlights systemic problems in India's defence procurement and indigenisation

• What is Project 17A: Advanced frigates with anti-air, anti-surface, and anti-submarine capabilities; designed as an advanced complement to the older 'Shivalik' class frigates and a precursor to the future Project 17B

• Recent milestone: INS Mahendragiri delivered on April 30, completing 6 deliveries in 17 months — marking improved execution pace

• Systemic problems flagged by CAG: (1) Hundreds of design changes made during construction of previous warship classes — reflecting inadequate upfront design work (2) Ships delivered on paper as 'nominally complete' while lacking critical components like engines and sensors — hollow commissioning metrics (3) 2025 CAG report: Navy inducting platforms without building supporting infrastructure (ports, maintenance facilities)

• Indigenisation gap: While Project 17A claims 75% indigenous components by value, many critical components (particularly sensors and propulsion systems) are still imported; without these, hulls cannot perform their designed combat roles

• The China threat context: PLA Navy is significantly increasing submarine presence in the Indian Ocean Region; Indian frigates lacking premium sensors (especially anti-submarine warfare sensors) effectively cannot detect and counter Chinese submarines — defeating the purpose of the fleet expansion

• Core argument: India risks building an impressive-looking fleet that is strategically hollow — industry interests in sustaining domestic shipyards may be superseding genuine threat-driven capability requirements

• Summary of deficits: Response fleet with delays + incomplete sensor grid + import-dependent industrial base + investments misaligned with threat environment

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 — Internal Security / Science & Tech | Naval modernisation; Project 17A; indigenisation; CAG accountability; China's IOR presence; ASW capability

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Project 17A: 7 Nilgiri-class frigates; Rs 45,000 crore; anti-air + anti-surface + anti-submarine capable

• INS Mahendragiri: 6th delivery under Project 17A (April 30)

• CAG = Comptroller and Auditor General of India (constitutional body auditing government expenditure)

• ASW = Anti-Submarine Warfare

🔑 Key Term: Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) — Naval operations and capabilities designed to find, track, and neutralise enemy submarines; requires specialised sensors (sonar), aircraft, torpedoes, and frigates; India's ASW capability gap is a strategic vulnerability given China's growing submarine fleet