Will Brigade 682 be the first unit to receive BrahMos?

Recently, many domestic and foreign press agencies have reported on India selling BrahMos supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles to Vietnam.

After the above information appeared, there were many predictions about the BrahMos version that India might sell to Vietnam.

BrahMos is a missile that can be deployed on many different launch platforms. However, Vietnam currently does not have any surface ships, aircraft or submarines designed to integrate this weapon, so it is likely that BrahMos will be used for coastal defense missile systems.

Vietnam's modern coastal missile systems were present at the Kilo 636 submarine flag-raising ceremony. Photo: Quang Hieu - Government Electronic Newspaper

Currently, the Vietnam Navy has 4 shore missile brigades, of which Brigade 679 is equipped with the 4K44 Redut complex, Brigade 680 uses the 4K51 Rubezh, Brigade 681 is equipped with the most modern K-300P Bastion-P system, while the 685 shore artillery - missile brigade manages the EXTRA and AccuLAR systems made in Israel.

If BrahMos is commissioned as a shore-based missile, based on the above mentioned organization, it will be part of a newly formed Brigade.

Groundbreaking ceremony of the 682nd Coastal Missile Brigade Barracks. Photo: People's Army.

According to the People's Army newspaper, on June 26, 2015, the Navy held a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the 682nd Coastal Missile Brigade barracks and is expected to put it into use from 2017, so the above time is near.

The 682nd Brigade's equipment certainly cannot be KCT 15 or Bal-E, or even Klub-M or Bastion-P because the research progress has not been completed, and there is no report from Russia or any defense monitoring organization saying that Vietnam has ordered the above systems.

But with recent developments, it is very likely that Brigade 682 will receive the land-to-sea version of the BrahMos missile, which is also reasonable because last year you announced a credit package worth 500 million USD to Vietnam to purchase weapons and equipment, in addition, our officer cadets are still being trained in India.

In addition, the unit price of the BrahMos missile when entering the mass production stage is only 2.3 million USD/missile (cheaper than Yakhont), so this will be a reasonable addition to the steel shield on the East Sea coast of Vietnam.

With the standard organizational structure of the Indian Navy, it is very likely that Brigade 682 will be equipped with 2 of these missile complexes, not just 1 Bastion-P system like Brigade 681. Equipping a large number will make technical assurance much easier and more economical.

According to Baodatviet