Russia will supply two Gepard-3.9 (NATO reporting name: Gepard-class)
frigates to Vietnamese Navy in the third quarter of 2016, as the Director
General of the Zelenodolsk Shipyard named after M. Gorky (the manufacturer
of Gepard-3.9 frigates), Renat Mistakhov told TASS at the DSA 2016 defense
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"Both ships (Gepard-3.9s) will be launched
in April-May 2016. Then we will start the basin trials of the frigates.
The ships will be supplied to Vietnam in the third quarter of 2016,"
Mistakhov said. He pointed out, that the propulsion systems of both
frigates have already been mounted and the related electrical works
have been finished. Mistakhov mentioned, that Hanoi will receive both
ships without helicopters.
According to him, the Zelenodolsk Shipyard is continuing to develop
the potential of Gepard-3.9 frigates. "We will shortly reveal Gepard-5.1
patrol ship, which is the latest development of Project 11661 frigate
(Gepard-class). Project 11661 frigate has a displacement of approximately
2,000 t. I suppose, that the ship has outstanding navigability. It has
proven itself to be a reliable frigate. Project 11661-based ships are
in high demand by both domestic and foreign customers," Mistakhov
said.
He pointed out, that the ability of Gepard-3.9 to fire Club (SS-N-27
Sizzler) cruise missiles is a reason of the ship`s popularity at the
international arms market. "Owing to its high displacement and
stability. Gepard-3.9 is more suitable for firing Club missiles (than
other ships of its class). These frigates are well-known is the Asia-Pacific
region. We produce them on serial basis. Such type of production allows
us to define the fixed price of Gepard-3.9 frigate for foreign customer.
As a result, the Zelenodolsk shipyard can implement the order within
the time limits, maintaining the high quality and outstripping our rivals
at the market," Mistakhov said.
He mentioned the plan of the Zelenodolsk shipyard to increase the shares
of civil and defense production for foreign customers in the company`s
portfolio in prospect. "At the moment, the share of the State Defense
Order (Russian acronym: GOZ, Gosoboronzakaz) is 70%, defense production
for foreign customers - 20%, civil production - 10%. We are planning
to increase the shares of civil production and defense production for
foreign customers, as the share of GOZ will reduce in future due to
external reasons," Mistakhov emphasized.
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