Vietnamese soldiers attend a flag-raising ceremony
held for the first two submarines at Cam Ranh base, in the central province
of Khanh Hoa, Vietnam, April 3, 2014. To date, Vietnam’s naval
forces include the first three boats supplied by Russia - the Hanoi,
Ho Chi Minh and Haiphong. (Xinhua/VNA) |
To
date, the Vietnamese Navy has operated the four submarines in the class
- the Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Haiphong and Da Nang. The government of the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam ordered from Russia’s official arms
exporter Rosoboronexport six Project 636.1 diesel-electric submarines
worth about $2 billion in late 2009. Vietnam has been receiving standard-issue
submarines outfitted with the Club-S (export designation of the Kalibr
system; SS-N-27 Sizzler) cruise missile system.
The deal is to be executed before year-end.
In addition to the submarines, Russia is building Gepard-3.9 (Gepard-class)
patrol ships for the Vietnamese Navy. Besides, Russian personnel are
providing technical assistance to the Vietnamese shipyards in the licence-production
of Project 1241.8 Molniya (Tarantul V-class) guided missile ships.
Russia is Vietnam’s old-time partner in military technical cooperation.
Of late, Vietnam has awarded it orders for the latest Russian weaponry
worth a total of more than $4.5 billion. In addition to the diesel-electric
submarine agreement, the most lucrative of them is the Su-30MK2 multirole
fighter order, which value is estimated at about $1 billion. According
to the Vietnamese government, the nation’s annual defense spending
is around $1.5 billion - about 1.8% of its GDP.
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