Will Vietnam's new Molniya have Kalibr or Yakhont?

Vympel Shipyard has just announced that Vietnam can build 4 more Molniya 1241.8 ships with new weapon configuration.

After the above information appeared, most experts believed that Vietnam's next generation Molniya 1241.8 will be equipped with Yakhont supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles instead of Kh-35 Uran-E.

First of all, it must be recognized that Yakhont is a missile that uses "older" technology than Kalibr. It is a transitional step between the old generation supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles with massive size, large radar reflection area and infrared exposure level, as well as poor maneuverability, to a new, superior design.

Equipped with a straight-flow jet engine, the Yakhont does not have flexible flight modes at different speed ranges like the Kalibr.

Therefore, to reach the maximum range of 300 km, the missile must climb to an altitude of 14,000 m (at low altitudes, the dense air density causes great resistance, causing the missile to consume fuel very quickly).

If a low-low trajectory is used from the start, the Yakhont's range will only reach 120 km, and in actual combat conditions this range will be much shorter.

Molniya 1241.8 missile boat, registration number 376 of the Vietnam People's Navy.

Compared to Yakhont, the Kalibr missile, thanks to its dual-mode jet engine, is capable of flying close to the sea at subsonic speeds in the initial phase, making it almost impossible for the enemy to detect.

During the target approach phase, the engine will increase power, pushing the speed up to Mach 2.9. This sudden change makes it impossible for the air defense system on the warship to change its state in time to react.

Because most of the flight time is subsonic, which saves fuel, the Kalibr missile has a compact size, radar reflection area and infrared exposure level are both smaller than the Yakhont because of limited friction with the air.

In addition, Kalibr missiles are also present on Kilo 636 submarines, which will be Gepard 3.9 frigates in the future, while Yakhont is only equipped with the K-300P Bastion-P shore missile system. Choosing Kalibr for the newly built Molniya ship also facilitates the work of ensuring technical logistics in the future.

Finally, in fact, in the Russian Navy, Kalibr has been chosen as the main anti-ship missile of both warships and future coastal defense systems, while Yakhont is very limited. With the policy of taking shortcuts, equipping the Molniya 1241.8 that is about to be built with Kalibr missiles is considered more reasonable than Yakhont.

According to Baodatviet