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| Southeast Asia |
| Vietnam Gets Fifth Kilo Submarine from Russia |
| 2016-02-10 |
| Last week, the fifth of six Kilo-class submarines that Vietnam bought from Russia arrived in the Southeast Asian state, local media outlets reported. According to Thanh Nien News, the HQ-186, delivered by Dutch-registered cargo ship Rolldock Star, arrived at Cam Ranh Bay in Khanh Hoa province last Tuesday evening. The submarine laid at anchor near Cam Ranh Port and was scheduled to arrive at the port thereafter. The HQ-186 underwent a trial run in the Baltic Sea on June 8 and was expected to arrive in early 2016. The fourth submarine, codenamed HQ-185 Da Nang, arrived at Cam Ranh Port back in July. The submarines are part of a deal Vietnam reached with Russia’s Admiralty Shipyards for six Project 636 Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines for $2 billion back in 2009. Under the agreement, signed during Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit to Moscow that year, Russia agreed to provide the submarines, train Vietnamese crews, and supply necessary spare parts. The latest delivery comes amidst simmering disputes in the South China Sea, where both Vietnam and China are claimants alongside the Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan. Last year, Vietnamese officials said that the first Kilo-class submarine had begun patrolling the South China Sea. The sixth and final submarine, named HQ-187 Ba Ria-Vung Tau, is expected to arrive in Vietnam in mid-2016. Russia officially launched HQ 187 in September last year in a ceremony attended by the commander of the Russian navy Admiral Viktor Chirkov and his Vietnamese counterpart Rear Admiral Pham Hoai Nam. The two had also reportedly discussed strengthening security cooperation in the Asia-Pacific. The Kilo-class submarines are considered to be one of the quietest diesel submarines in the world, and are designed for anti-submarine warfare and anti-surface-ship warfare. |
| Posted by:Pappy |
| #9 China has about ten times the number of diesel subs and nine nuclear boats on top of that. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2016-02-10 18:45 |
| #8 six Project 636 Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines for $2 billion back in 2009 So one-a-year for $300+million? |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2016-02-10 17:00 |
| #7 Sam, there's one small problem: competent mandarins beat incompetent mandarins, which is what we've been getting thus far from the democrats. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2016-02-10 16:27 |
| #6 ..except only the Inner Party will be able to afford to buy all those trinkets from China to keep their |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-02-10 16:08 |
| #5 So, #2, pretty much how things here will be if Sanders wins! |
| Posted by: Yosemite Sam 2016-02-10 16:03 |
| #4 TW: Everything's still owned by the Party, or the Party Member's Relatives, or foreign corporations. I think you were one of the people I talked to about how a lot of the "post-communist" countries were effectively following the pattern of post-closure-of-the-Grand-Council Venice a couple years ago. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2016-02-10 15:43 |
| #3 BEIJING = CHINA is still p.o'ed that Vietnam + PH didn't give them base rights in Cam Ranh Bay or Manila Bay-Subic. Hence our on-going de-e-e-lemmas in the SCS + ECS + Chinese SU's over SOKOR. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2016-02-10 01:25 |
| #2 It went the China route. It is technically "communist", but has fairly open markets and lets its people travel and say most things freely. Piss off the central party and you can be in trouble, but they aren't as rabid about it as the Chinese. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2016-02-10 00:59 |
| #1 Is Viet Nam still Communist nowadays, or has it become something else? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2016-02-10 00:50 |