Revealing Vietnamese vehicle that can carry BrahMos
According to Sputnik, along with accelerating the production of BrahMos, the Indian government also plans to provide Vietnam with this supersonic missile.
This source quoted Indian Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as saying that in recent years, there have been many speculations that Vietnam is negotiating with India to acquire 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 between India and South American countries like Peru and Chile have also taken place, showing 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 BrahMos has a very heavy launch weight, 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 the MiG-21 in our country.
The improved Kilo 636MV submarine is also a combat vehicle capable of being equipped with BrahMos missiles instead of the 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 with 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 systems, Vietnam needs to buy some more advanced coastal anti-ship defense systems. And some more BrahMos coastal anti-ship missile systems can completely "share the fire" effectively for the K-300P Bastion-P.
Only the surface-launched variant is difficult for Vietnam to buy because with a weight nearly 5 times larger than the Kh-35E anti-ship missile (over 600kg) or nearly 4 times larger than the MM-40 Exocet on Gepard and Sigma warships, it is only equipped on frigates and destroyers with a displacement several times larger than Vietnam's largest frigates.
Therefore, the option of purchasing 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.
