Vietnam a synonym of the word resistance, not only they resisted the Japanese empire during the colonial era but also a superpower in it's fight for independence. Such level of war, resource and human management did not only shook those who thought of this small nation as another third world country but also stood as a wall for those trying to tear her apart. The leaders of the communist party believed that modernizing the navy would help not only in countering China as China is smart enough to not make the same mistake twice attacking Vietnam through Land which proved disastrous. The Chinese navy back of the 21st century is completely different from the one back in the 80s. The new Chinese navy is built to deter keeping America in mind. Vietnam's regional influence expansion and military modernizationVietnam soon after it's economic reforms in the year of 1986 created an amazing transformation story from one of the poorest country in the world to a lower-middle income economy in a decade was nothing short of a miracle story. Enough with the Economics. With the opening of Vietnam's market to foreign companies, Improvement of relations with other ASEAN members and the historic signing of the free trade agreement made Vietnam a vibrant capitalist economy from a stagnant agriculture based economy. In this vibrant story somewhere the military industry and the forces were left behind. Somewhat. With Vietnam spending only 2% of it's GDP on it's defense the Vietnamese government decided to focus more on modernizing the capabilities of the Navy. With continuous intense situations between Vietnam and China the Vietnamese government to spearhead a military modernization with the most priority given to the Navy. After the Spratly island incident, the Jhonson reef incident the Vietnamese government decided to increase it's capabilities by acquiring modern hardware from long term ally Russia. THE SUBMARINES Vietnam ordered 6 improved-Kilo class submarine with the intentions of starting it's own submarine arm. These Kilo class submarines are packed with modern mission computers,sonars and systems. The Kilo class submarines are known as the 'black hole' due to their absurd level of quietness for a diesel submarine and the ability to carry the deadly cruise missiles 3M-54 KLUB missile (NATO Code name: Sizzler) with a range of 220 KM flying at Mach 2.9. With these Submarines patrolling in the sea the submarines can target any flotilla or fleet away from the detection zone. The Sizzler missiles are one of the most deadliest submarine launched missile. It can do a supersonic sprint in it's terminal phase making it hard to intercept. These submarines can trail any PLAN ship in it's range without even raising any suspicion. Although it is said that China has set up an underwater system of hydrophone system and acoustics detection system much like the American developed SOSUS which could hear submarines from thousands of miles away. Even though it may not be as effective as the American one due to China's lackadaisical attitude towards Anti-Submarine Warfare but if it works as described be it less advanced than it can pose a very serious threat to Vietnamese submarines. The five submarines out of the six have been delivered with the last one under construction. If the Vietnamese military establishment can manage to train their crews and take a unique approach towards combat like they did for the Vietnam War. Even a single submarine with a very well trained crew can wreck havoc for the Chinese ships . Even though the chinese navy uses almost the same class of submarines but the only difference is whether the PLAN senior officials prefer out of the box for countering submarines or they themselves rely reusing old tactics. These submarines have been specially built keeping in the mind the requirements of the Vietnamese navy. India recently offered is homebuilt advanced torpedo to the Vietnamese navy and it has been taken on a positive note. The Surface combatants The Vietnamese navy had the intention to buy Danish designed Sigma corvettes but no news has came in so far. The Vietnamese navy has ordered 4 Gepard class frigates packed with Anti-Ship missiles. These Pocket ships are armed to the teeth. These ships are the successor to Koni class and Grisha class frigates. Out of the four ships two have been delivered so far also certain reports say that Vietnam also ordered another two ships in the form of Anti-Submarine format. These ships pack an impressive array of weapons system. The first ship of the Vietnamese navy the Dinh Tien Hoang (HQ-011) was built keeping the requirements of the Vietnamese navy in mind. The Gepard class frigates of the VPN have stealth features and a redesigned structure to reduce Radar cross section.These frigates weigh around 2,100 tons slightly heavier than the original design. They are powered by two COGDAG engines giving it an ability to travel 7,000 km. are The The Gepard class frigates are armed with an array of offensive and defensive weapon systems.
Anti-Ship based missile systems The Vietnamese Navy has armed itself with K-300 P Bastion Coastal defence missile system. The main agenda of the Bastion system is to attack or engage Carrier battle groups, destroyers, landing crafts . A typical battery would include four launch vehicles, a command vehicle, a radar vehicle and several maintainance and transloader vehicles. The launch vehicles are based on the MZKT-7930 8x8 chassis. Three missiles are carried per vehicle and stored in a large box with two large doors that cover the roof. The command vehicle is based on the Kamaz 43101 6x6 truck chassis and may control up to 12 launch vehicles. The Bastion launches the large and powerful 3M55 Oniks missile, which is known in the West as the SS-N-26 Strobile. The ground launched variant has a maximum range of 300 km on a high altitude flight profile and 120 km when sea skimming all the way. Due to the Mach 2.5 speed and sea skimming abilities the 3M55 is very difficult to intercept. Since the missile is dependent on radar data the range is limited to the effectiveness of the coastal radar systems. These systems can attack any chinese ships and according to varying reports the Bastion systems can be used to attack Hainan naval base which is considered as a very important Chinese naval base. India's role in Vietnam's modernization push
India has offered Vietnam the Brahmos supersonic cruise missile. The Brahmos can easily take down any combatant in the Chinese fleet and can play a wreck havoc if necessary. India and Vietnam are said to be in an advanced stage of negotiations for the sale of these missiles and Russia doesn't seems to mind. Also, ever since Indian Prime Minister's second visit to Vietnam India has extended it's line of credit to Vietnam increasing it from $100 million to $500 million for the purchase of military equipment. India is also said to be constantly upgrading Vietnamese ships bringing them current standards and training Vietnamese sailors and officers at Indian facilities, India has also been providing constant assistance to Vietnam for the maintenance of their Kilo class submarines and also helping them train. Recently L&T a major Indian defence company has won a $100 million deal for designing and building fast patrol vessels along with full transfer of technology for the Vietnamese border guard. Conclusion The Vietnamese navy still has a long way to go with only six surface combatants and so visible sign of the advanced sigma class corvettes it can be quite troublesome for the VPN to hold back major Chinese warships. A lot of it also depends upon the kind of strategy devised and to be used by Vietnamese generals. Vietnam has the right set of missile systems and submarines but it still lacks larger frigates or corvettes. Although Vietnam and America has recently embraced each other years of enmity. And recent reports also show that foreign specially western manufacturers are keen to tap in the Vietnamese defence market and so far Sweden has taken proactive steps to do so by developing UAVs with Vietnam. India can also embrace Vietnam and help it arms itself with it's huge experience in shipbuilding and the ability to manufacture highly advanced combat warships India can easily manufacture a few frigates for the Vietnamese navy and by doing so it can solidify it's position as a major shipbuilder. Vietnam's naval modernization is surely going to bug China due to it's inclusion if latest Kilo class submarines and Brahmos cruise missiles can surely wreck havoc for the Chinese navy. When one adversary wasn't enough they would have to deal with two and that too armed with these supersonic missiles. With China's ongoing claim in South China Sea Vietnam should invest more in Fast attack boats armed with Cruise missiles that can attack Chinese ships in packs like wolf. Vietnam is also seeking to buy patrol Aircraft for patrolling their coasts and seek out Chinese submarines lurking near by. Image credits: click the images for the links. written by - Sarthak Das |