Team News Riveting
Rourkela, September 6
The Special Plate Plant (SPP) of SAIL, Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) continues to be at the forefront in fortifying India’s naval capabilities through continuous supply of cutting-edge DMR 249A steel for various applications.
All the 7 frigates recently constructed by Indian Navy as part of the Project-17 Alpha frigates (P-17A) namely Nilgiri, Himgiri, Taragiri, Udaygiri, Dunagiri, Vindhyagiri and Mahendragiri have in them the Steel made by RSP.
It is worth mentioning here that the 6th frigate, “Vindhyagiri”, was launched by Smt. Droupadi Murmu, President of India, on 17th August 2023 while the 7th frigate Mahendragiri was launched in the presence of Jagdeep Dhankar, Vice President of India on 1st September 2023. The series of stealth guided-missile frigates have modern stealth features, advanced weapons and sensors and platform management systems.
RSP had received orders for supply of DMR 249A grade steel from M/s MDL, Mumbai, for four frigates, and M/s GRSE, Kolkata, for three frigates. With its unwavering commitment to quality and delivery, it had successfully supplied 1440 tons to M/s MDL Mumbai and 1218 tons to M/s GRSE Kolkata for the P-17A Project from 2017 to 2021.
It is noteworthy that the Special Plate Plant (SPP), commissioned in 1969 has a robust legacy of rolling plates for Indian defence and Navy. In 2017, recognizing the need for high-strength quenched and tempered defence grade special steel plates of wider, longer, and heavier sections, the capacity of SPP was expanded with introduction of an additional Heat Treatment line, which included an austenitizing furnace, quenching facility, and tempering furnace.
Under the guidance of the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL), Hyderabad, Special Plate Plant has successfully developed Naval Grade Plates, including DMR-249A, DMR-249B, and DMR 301 grade plates, which meet the stringent requirements of defence applications.
SPP is also in the mission of developing more import-substitute plates as part of the ‘Make in India’ mission so as to make the country self sufficient in construction of indigenous defence applications, integral to the safeguarding India’s safety and security.
