Why does Vietnam need more Russian Gepard?

We would like to introduce to our readers a short article by the Editorial Board of the weekly newspaper “Independent Military Commentary” (Russia) with the above title and subtitle to refer to the comments of this prestigious military weekly on the Russia-Vietnam military technical cooperation relationship. The article was published in this newspaper on October 26, 2018.

Vietnam plans to purchase several more multipurpose ships of project 11661E “Gepard-3.9” equipped with modern missile complexes “Calibr-NK”.

The construction of the Project 11661 (E) frigates (guard ships) began in the 1990s at the Zelenodolsk shipyard named after AM Gorki in the Republic of Tatarstan, a member of the Ak Bars Concern.

Project 11661 ships are designed to search, find and destroy underwater (submarines), surface (surface ships) and airborne targets, patrol, conduct convoy escort operations and protect exclusive economic zones.

The first contract to supply the Vietnamese Navy with two Project 11661E frigates worth $350 million was signed by Rosoboronexport (Russian arms export agency) with the Vietnamese side in 2006. The groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of these ships was held on July 10 and November 28, 2007.

The first ship “Dinh Tien Hoang (code 011-HQ-011) - factory number 954) was put into service (combat duty) for the Vietnam Navy on March 5, 2011, the second ship – Ly Thai To (code 012, factory number 955) – on August 22 of the same year.

Vietnamese generals highly appreciated these ships - they have proven to be highly reliable in ensuring national security, so they decided to order two more "Gepard" ships and signed a state contract with the "Rosoboronexport" Corporation on October 17, 2012.

Following that, in 2013, the “Rosoboronexport” Corporation (part of the Russian state corporation “Rostekh”) signed a state contract with the “Zelenodolski Zavod named after AM Gorki” Corporation to build two more 11661E “Gepard-3.9” ships with more powerful anti-submarine weapons (compared to the previous ships - ND), - the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of these two ships for Vietnam was held on September 24, 2013.

But during the construction of the second pair of ships, the “Zelenodolski Zavod” plant encountered some problems due to political issues and Ukraine’s refusal to supply ship engines, so the shipbuilding schedule had to be adjusted - because the Ukrainian Scientific-Production Complex “Zoria”-“Moshproekt” delayed the delivery of M44E gas turbine engines and because the Russian side had to agree on the procedure for supplying the above engines to the ships with the Ukrainian side through the SRV representative.

The launching ceremony of the third ship Tran Hung Dao (code 015, factory number 956) and the fourth ship Quang Trung (code 016, factory number 957) were held on April 27 and May 26, 2016.

In September and October 2016, these ships traveled along the inland waterway route from Zelenodolsk on the Volga River (Tatarstan) to Novorossisk (on the Black Sea coast - following the Volga River to the Black Sea - ND) to conduct sea trials and train Vietnamese crews.

On October 27, 2017, the Tran Hung Dao ship was brought to Vietnam's Cam Ranh naval base by the Rolldock Star transport ship. The fourth frigate, Quang Trung, arrived at Cam Ranh port earlier this year and on February 6, 2018, a solemn flag-raising ceremony was held to put the "Gepard" ships into the operational component (staffing) of the Vietnam Navy.

Project 11661 frigates have a displacement of nearly 2,000 tons and are equipped with missile weapons, anti-aircraft missile weapons and anti-aircraft guns. The main weapons of the ships supplied to Vietnam are the Uran-E anti-ship missile complex and the Kh-35E missile. A similar type of missile attack weapon complex is also present on the Tatarstan ship – the first ship of this type built and currently in service with the Russian Navy.

However, the second ship, “Daghestan” (of the Russian Navy) became the first Russian surface warship to be equipped with the now world-famous “Kalibr-NK” missile complex, which can launch various types of high-precision missiles. It was these missiles that in October 2015 successfully struck terrorist positions (in Syria) from the waters of the Caspian Sea.

After studying and evaluating the performance of Russian warships in Syria, Vietnam expressed its desire to equip the new "Gepard" with the export version of the "Kalibr-NK" complex to replace the "Uran" complex to increase the combat capabilities of these ships.

Vietnam has long been a partner of Russia in the field of military technology. Moscow is currently the largest arms supplier to Vietnam – up to 90% (of Vietnam's total weapons imports).

In recent years, Hanoi has prioritized the development of its Navy and Air Force due to the increasingly tense situation around disputed islands in the South China Sea (East Sea) and concerns about Beijing's ambitions to dominate the region.

It is not excluded that the terrorist threats that exist in Syria may spread to other regions of the world. To counter these threats, Vietnam pays special attention to developing and strengthening the combat power of its Navy, and as a result has purchased from Russia missile boats of project 12418 “Molnia” with a license to produce such ships, 6 diesel-electric submarines of project 636.1 “Varshavianka”, frigates (guard ships) of project 11661E “Gepard-3.9” and multi-role fighters Su-30MK2.

Russian soldiers are always ready to share with their Vietnamese colleagues the experience of testing military technical equipment in real combat conditions. In order to jointly train and educate officers, in 2018 (Russia) has allocated 176 quotas for Vietnam to train Vietnamese soldiers at (Russian military schools) completely free of charge.

The two sides signed a “roadmap” for developing bilateral military cooperation for the 2018-2020 period. Vietnam participated in the International Military Games “Armi-Games -2018” (from July 28 to August 11, 2018 - ND) and the International Military Technical Forum “Armi-2018” (from August 21 to 26, 2018 in Russia - ND).

During talks in April 2018 with Defense Minister General Ngo Xuan Lich, Russian Defense Minister General Sergey Shoigu emphasized: “Vietnam is our long-standing and tested partner.

We (Russia and Vietnam) are bound together by trustful relations built on friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation,” the head of the Russian Defense Ministry added. “For us, Vietnam is one of the most important partners in ensuring security in the Asia-Pacific region.”