Russia invites Vietnam to buy heavily armed warships
At a recent Russian defense event, Zelenodolsk Factory introduced to the Vietnamese Navy the 22160 warship, which the US considered a genius design.
On the website of Zelenodolsk Shipyard, Mr. Renat Mistahov, General Director, said that the stealth missile frigate version of Project 22160 equipped with heavy weapons has been officially offered for sale to customers, including the Vietnam Navy.
The fact that Russia is currently massively developing small warships carrying cruise missiles and modern Western-style air defense systems is a great opportunity for Vietnam to rapidly upgrade its surface fleet.
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Vietnam Navy delegation met with the Director of Zelenodolsk Plant at LIMA 2017 Exhibition. |
It is known that recently, both Russian and Vietnamese media have said that Vietnam will not continue to buy Gepard 3.9 frigates from Russia and will choose to buy another type of ship with a smaller or equivalent displacement, but with stronger firepower with Kalibr cruise missiles.
Experts have selected a number of Kalibr missile-carrying ship configurations suitable for Vietnam, such as the Project 21631 Buyan-M class light frigate, Project 22800 (950 tons), Karakurt class (800 tons); Project 20380 Soobrazitelny frigate, Project 20385 Gremyashchy class frigate (2200 tons)...
However, the Buyan-M and Karakurt light frigates have very poor air defense capabilities and are not Vietnam's top priority. Therefore, the Project 20385 and Project 22160 frigates will be Vietnam's top choices; of which Project 22160 is the most promising candidate.
Although there has been no official confirmation from Vietnam, that is enough to make the international media particularly interested. The US website The Drive said that if the purchase decision is made, the Vietnamese Navy will possess a generation of missile boats with a "genius" design.
The US magazine said that the Project 22160 ship has a “genius” design, ensuring enough firepower for a small-sized ship. The main mission of the corvette is to protect territorial waters, fight piracy, as well as support interaction with larger frigates, destroyers or smaller missile boats during combat.
The Drive emphasized that the ship is built according to the modular principle, so the armament and equipment installation for Project 22160 can be changed depending on the mission at each time, such as fighting pirates or supporting large-scale attack campaigns.
On board, in addition to the standard A-220M 57mm cannon with a range of 12km, two remotely controlled 14.5mm heavy machine guns and a DP-65 anti-landing grenade launcher, the free space in front of the helicopter deck can be used to install two Kalibr-NK missile systems.
In addition, the ship is also equipped with a VLS 3S90E vertical launch system behind the main gun, using Shtil-1 medium-range air defense missiles, with a launch range of 50km.
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Russia tests Project 22160 warship. |
In particular, although Project 22160 is quite modest in size, it can operate autonomously for 2 months without refueling. During this time, the ship can travel a distance of up to 6,000 nautical miles.
This will allow small patrol boats to strike targets at great distances at sea and on land with eight Kalibr-NK cruise missiles, the author of the article said.
The Drive's military expert believes that the prototype is quite innovative with its stealth capabilities and good weapon integration, making it worth studying and learning from by Western navies. It could become a source of inspiration for America's own multi-purpose warships.
