Vietnam's Gepard warship fires powerful weapons in the Black Sea

According to Sputnik, the second pair of Gepard warships of the Vietnam Navy is testing weapons at the firing range of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

This information was announced by the director of the Zelenodolsk shipyard, Mr. Renat Mistakhov, on March 24 while attending the LIMA-2017 Exhibition. "One of the two Gepard 3.9 destroyers under testing has conducted test firing in the area of ​​the Black Sea Fleet, the second one is preparing to fire, the director said.

According to Mr. Renat Mistakhov, after completing these tests, the ships will be transferred to the Vietnamese side. The testing of the two Gepard 3.9 ships was held at the firing range of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Although this director did not reveal the type of weapon tested on the pair of Gepard warships of the Vietnam Navy, according to the principle of testing weapons before handing over any warship or even new fighter jet to customers, all equipped weapons were fired and tested in turn.

Vietnam's Gepard warship tested in the Black Sea.

And so, the weapon systems were tested in turn including: AK-176M naval gun, two AK-630M rapid-fire guns, Palma CIWS system, 2x4 Uran-E/UE anti-ship missiles. And anti-submarine weapons were also fired. However, Russia has not yet announced which torpedoes are equipped on Vietnam's second Gepard pair.

Also tested with the weapons is the radar system including: A Pozitiv-ME warning radar, a Minera-ME fire control radar, a 5P-10-03E Laska artillery fire control radar, and an MR-231 maritime radar. The hydroacoustic equipment is attached to the hull.

Meanwhile, according to the official website of the Zelenodolsk Shipyard, the Gepard 3.9 ships have a full load displacement of 2,200 tons, an overall length of 102.4 m; width of 14.4 m; height of 7.25 m; draft of about 5.6 m; maximum speed of about 29 nautical miles/h.

The ship has a range of 4,000 nautical miles; the ability to operate independently for 20 days at sea and is operated by a crew of 84 sailors. In the future, not only Vietnam will own a Gepard warship, but Southeast Asian countries will also have a great opportunity to own this type of warship.

Specifically, at the LIMA 2017 Exhibition (Malaysia), Russia brought the Gepard frigate model to attend. The exhibition gathered 512 defense companies (compared to 433 companies 2 years ago), with 65 warships and 110 aircraft.

On the Russian side, 18 companies participated with an exhibition area of ​​645 square meters, including the booth of Zelenodolsk Shipyard (where Gepard warships are built for the Vietnam People's Navy).

Talking about the future of Gepard ships in the region, Mr. Renat Mistahov said that this is a ship model that attracts much attention from coastal countries and island nations in Southeast Asia.

According to Baodatviet