Revealing Vietnamese vehicle that can carry BrahMos
According to Sputnik, along with speeding up the production of BrahMos, the Indian government also plans to supply Vietnam with this supersonic missile.
This source quoted Indian Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as saying that in recent years, there have been many speculations about Vietnam negotiating with India about owning this supersonic cruise missile from New Delhi.
Besides, there are also many other Southeast Asian countries that have similar wishes to Vietnam such as Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.
Several discussions have also taken place between India and South American countries like Peru and Chile, indicating the huge export potential of this indigenously developed missile.
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| BrahMos missile |
So in case Vietnam officially buys, which version of BrahMos will be chosen? According to the manufacturer's introduction, BrahMos is currently developed with 3 versions: Coast-to-ship, submarine-to-ship and air-to-ship.
Vietnam can buy all of these versions, but Vietnam does not have the conditions and does not need to buy the ship-to-ship version because currently, no Vietnamese warship can carry it, because the launch weight of BrahMos is too heavy, up to nearly 3 tons.
Currently, Vietnam's Su-30MK2 fighter jet version has similar features to the Su-30MKI, so it can be equipped with Kh-31, Kh-35 and BrahMos-M missiles. In addition, MiG aircraft such as the MiG-29 can also integrate BrahMos and Kh-35. This can also affect the trend of purchasing fighter jets to replace our country's MiG-21.
The improved Kilo 636MV submarine is also a combat vehicle capable of being equipped with BrahMos missiles instead of Club-S 3M-54E anti-ship cruise missiles. Moreover, if we only purchase a limited number of 3M-54E missiles for submarines, the cost will be very expensive. If we buy BrahMos in a large batch, it will certainly be cheaper.
In addition, Vietnam can also purchase the BrahMos mobile shore-based anti-ship missile launch system, because it has the same technical and tactical standards as the K-300P Bastion-P system (NATO: SSC-5) using the P-800 Yakhont missile (export version of the P-800 Onyx - the prototype of the BrahMos).
On the map, our country's coastline is over 3,000km long, but currently our army only possesses a limited number of K-300P Bastion systems, each system has a coverage range of 600km, which is not enough to cover the entire sea area of Vietnam's continental shelf and exclusive economic zone.
Therefore, to protect the entire long coastline of our country, fill the dead zones and fire intersection points between the systems, Vietnam needs to buy some more advanced coastal defense systems against ships. And some more BrahMos coastal anti-ship missile systems can completely "share the fire" effectively for K-300P Bastion-P.
Only the surface-launched variant is difficult for Vietnam to buy because with a weight nearly 5 times that of the Kh-35E anti-ship missile (over 600kg) or nearly 4 times that of the MM-40 Exocet on Gepard and Sigma warships, it is only equipped on frigates and destroyers with displacement several times that of Vietnam's largest frigates.
Therefore, the option of buying BrahMos missiles on surface ships will not be feasible at the present stage, it will only come when the Vietnamese navy owns heavy frigates and destroyers. As for the above 3 versions, we can completely buy them to strengthen the anti-ship defense combat capability of the air/naval force.
