Vietnam's Kilo submarine launches Club-S for the first time

The Kilo submarine of the Vietnam Navy has just fired for the first time and successfully destroyed a target with a 3M-54E missile from the Club-S system.

First firing

In the 7 p.m. news program on December 22 on VTV1 channel, the Vietnam Navy for the first time released images of a Kilo submarine launching a cruise missile from the Club-S system.

On the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam People's Army, Vietnam Television VTV had a special report on the Vietnam Navy Air Force, the clearest proof of the growth, progress towards regularization and modernization of our army.

Scene of loading missiles into Vietnamese Kilo submarine.

After 5 years of construction, the Naval Air Force has now become one of the mainstay forces along with surface ships and submarines to strengthen the protection of national sovereignty at sea.

Anti-submarine helicopters and seaplanes of our Navy Air Force are on duty day and night, contributing to shortening the distance between the island outposts in the middle of the ocean.

Besides introducing our Naval Air Force, VTV's report also shows a part of the Vietnam Navy's missile force, which are the fists at sea and the deterrent power of our navy against hostile external forces.

The most prominent of these are the 3M-54E cruise missiles equipped on the modern Kilo diesel-electric attack submarines of the Vietnam People's Navy.

In addition, our navy's surface warships are also equipped with advanced anti-ship missiles like those on the Gepard missile frigates or Molniya missile boats, the main warships of the Vietnam Navy.

In the published report, the entire squadron of Vietnamese Molniya missile boats fired Uran-E anti-ship missiles, an export variant of the Russian Kh-35 anti-ship missile line, which has a range that can be extended to 300km and is equipped with a 145kg warhead. Each Molniya boat is equipped with up to 16 Uran-E launchers.

And at the end of the report is a previously unpublished image of a 3M-54E missile firing exercise from the Club-S system of the Vietnam Navy's most modern submarine.

Multi-purpose missile

According to published information, the 3M-54E ammunition of the Club-S system on the Vietnamese Kilo ship can destroy many targets and make the opponent unable to defend.

To launch a missile while the submarine is submerged, two stages must be followed. In the submerged stage, the missile will use a high-pressure compressed air engine, allowing it to push itself completely out of the water a few meters, then the engine will start burning fuel to carry out the launch process as on normal land.

This launch mechanism requires updating information about the launch position to the computer system for confirmation before launch, especially in terms of depth because the rocket needs to be completely out of the water before it can ignite the booster engine.

The Russian manufacturer said that the 3M-54E missiles of the Club-S system for Vietnam's Kilo submarines also operate on this principle. According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), in 2009, Vietnam signed a contract with Russia to buy 40 3M-54E Club-S anti-ship cruise missiles.

The Club-S missile is a variant of the Club multi-purpose attack missile system for installation on attack submarines. The Club-S system is capable of firing ammunition with different destructive power and flight range including:

The 3M-54E supersonic anti-ship missile has a range of 300km, a flight speed of Mach 2.9, and is equipped with a 200kg armor-piercing warhead. The 3M-14E land-attack cruise missile has a range of 275km and is equipped with a 400kg warhead. The 91RE1 anti-submarine missile has a range of 50km. The 91RE2 anti-submarine missile has a range of 40km...

The 3M-54E anti-ship missile weighs 2 tons, is launched from a 533 mm torpedo tube, and is equipped with a 200 kg warhead. The range of this missile is 300 km at subsonic speed. However, the speed at the last minute of its flight phase can reach over 2,000 km/h.

The 3M-54E missile also has air-launched and ship-launched versions. When the 3M-54E missile attacks a warship, its speed in the final flight phase is accelerated, making this type of missile particularly dangerous.

The final flight phase usually begins when the missile is about 15 km away from the target. Previously, the flight altitude of the missile was kept at about 30 m. This makes the missile relatively difficult to detect. This feature, combined with the very high flight speed of the final phase, means that when the missile completes the last 15 km flight, it takes less than 20 seconds. This makes it very difficult for existing anti-missile weapons to shoot it down.

According to Baodatviet