Equipped with heavy torpedoes, the second pair of Gepard warships of the Vietnam Navy can destroy targets at depths of up to 400 m.
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| Russian media has just released more images of the torpedo tubes on the second pair of Gepard ships built for the Vietnamese Navy that are being tested in the Black Sea. The released images show that the weapon systems of this pair of ships have been installed, notably the Uran-E anti-ship missile system (2 sets, 4 tubes/set, launching Kh-35E missiles) and the 533 mm torpedo launchers (2 sets, 2 tubes/set) mounted on the ship. |
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| This torpedo is the same size as the Kilo submarine torpedo. With 533mm torpedoes, the Gepard 3.9 frigate will have extremely strong anti-submarine capabilities, able to take down 'underwater killers' and even surface warships with just a single shot. |
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| According to information made public by Russia, the 533mm torpedo tube allows the ship to launch all types of main attack weapons, including 53-65 anti-ship torpedoes and TEST 71 anti-ship/anti-submarine torpedoes. |
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| The 53-65 or Type 53-65 torpedo is a sonar-guided torpedo, designed based on the previous generation Type 53-61 torpedo. The export version is called 53-65KE, which is used against surface ships. The torpedo has a diameter of 533mm; a length of 7.2m; weighs 2,070kg and is equipped with a warhead weighing up to 300kg. |
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| The Type 53-65 has an attack range of 12km when moving at 125km/h and 18km when moving at 83km/h (the 53-65K variant reaches 19km and the 53-65M reaches 22km). It is predicted that the variant that Vietnam will buy will be the Type 53-65K torpedo. |
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| Meanwhile, the TEST 71 is a wire-guided torpedo and is much heavier than the TEST 68 - the first wire-guided torpedo of the Soviet Union. The TEST 71 has many advantages such as a longer range, a heavier warhead and can attack targets at greater depths. |
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| In addition to the original prototype, TEST 71 has also been developed into 4 main variants: TEST 71M, TEST 71MK, TEST 71ME-NK and TEST 3. Of these, only the TEST 71ME-NK variant has multi-purpose attack capabilities (both surface ships and submarines). |
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| TEST 71ME-NK has a diameter of 533mm; length of 7.93m; weight of 1,820kg; warhead weighs 205kg and has the great advantage of being equipped with 2 different detonators: Proximity detonation (hydroacoustic and magnetic) and contact detonation. |
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| The torpedo operates by remote control via wire, semi-active probe and sonar with a target detection range of up to 1.5km. TEST 71ME-NK is equipped with a propulsion system with 2 twin propellers, a cruising speed of 48km/h and increasing to 74km/h in the final stage, an attack range of 20km at a depth of up to 400m. |
According to Baodatviet
