Hanoi Wants a Couple More Gepard

20 Februari 2020

The Vietnamese Navy is determined to purchase a third pair of project 11661E Gepard from Russia - this time equipped with Kalibr supersonic missiles (photo : Zelenodorl)

The Vietnamese military began pre-contract negotiations with Rosoboronexport to place an order for the construction of the third pair of lightweight frigates of the Gepard 3.9 class at a shipyard in Zelenodolsk. As a senior source in the Russian defense industry told us, now the parties are discussing the technical appearance of these ships, as well as a possible range of weapons. Although the specific specifications of the latter are still being negotiated, the Vietnamese sailors have already expressed the wish that the new Gepard should be equipped with the latest generation of strike complexes. Namely - the "Kalibr" exported supersonic cruise missiles. It is assumed that there will be at least eight such missiles on board each ship.

These complexes are needed by the Vietnamese Navy for the effective defense of part of the islands and rocks of the Spratly archipelago, which, although under the actual control of Hanoi, are disputed by other countries, including China, the Philippines and Malaysia.

“The Vietnamese have not yet decided what capabilities of frigates they need to build up - anti-submarine or anti-aircraft. But as soon as this issue becomes clear, the FSVTC will immediately receive a corresponding application from the local Navy, after which it will be possible to prepare a contract for signing, ”said the source of the Expert,“ In the most favorable scenario, this may happen before the end of the current of the year".

Recall that the first pair of “Gepard” of the Vietnamese Navy was commissioned almost nine years ago. And then it was decided to build two more ships of this type, but with reinforced anti-submarine weapons. Initially, it was assumed that the first of them would be handed over to the Vietnamese sailors in February 2017, and the second - three months later - in June of that year. But in fact, these dates had to be shifted by almost a year. And, in general, it’s clear why.

Kalibr supersonic cruise missile (photo : Sputnik)

It is no secret that after the introduction of Ukrainian sanctions, the supply of offshore gas turbine engines of the Nikolaev Zorya-Mashproekt enterprise to Russia was virtually blocked. We have not produced such units yet, and our industry failed to replace Ukrainian engines, for example, with German ones. Note that the Russian NPO Saturn has been conducting development work on the development of offshore gas turbine engines for several years, but they are still at the testing stage. Moreover, as Expert found out, power plants of domestic manufacture are intended for more powerful ships, in particular frigates of project 22350. But we do not even conduct R and D on engines for light ships, including the Gepard class.

This state of affairs almost led to the disruption of the contract. And only thanks to the efforts of the political leadership of Vietnam did the situation with Ukraine be resolved to the mutual benefit of all participants in this process. The last two Gepard cost Hanoi a total of almost $ 700 million. Moreover, our country agreed to provide the buyer with a long-term loan, which is regularly serviced.

But it is now clear that a third pair of such ships will cost at least $ 100 million more, including due to the installation of new Kalibr-NKE missile systems on them. There is no doubt that Hanoi will try to do everything possible to use the current situation and get a decent discount from Rosoboronexport. Moreover, the negotiating position of Vietnam looks pretty strong. This country acquires light frigates not only from Russia, but also in the Netherlands. In particular, four Sigma-class ships were ordered immediately from the Damen Group company of the Vietnamese Navy. And in the event of opposition from Ukraine, it may well completely reorient itself towards the Dutch.

True, the Dutch frigates are almost a quarter more expensive than our Gepards and they have nothing in service with the Russian Kalibr. Most of the experts we interviewed are sure that this circumstance played a key role in the fact that Hanoi, despite difficulties with Ukrainian engines, nevertheless decided to purchase new ships in Russia. The whole question is whether the Vietnamese can persuade the authorities in Kiev to allow the delivery of their gas turbine power plants to Zelenodolsk, and under what conditions.

(Extra)