The fifth ASEAN country submarine force in my series concerns Vietnam.
6 Improved Kilo
Class (Project 636) submarines
Ordered 2009
Delivered by 2017
Cost $2 Billion
Displacement 3,000
tonnes
Vietnamese Kilo HQ-186 Da Nang. Image courtesy vnexpress.net
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Vietnam does not
detail news of its submarines for PR or taxpayer/defense budget justification
purposes that may apply to democracies. So I don’t have much new post-2020 information on Vietnamese
submarine force. Here are some articles with older information:
Vietnam’s (Russian Speaking) Kilo Submarine Service
Vietnam’s Strategic RelationsCountering China
https://e.vnexpress.net/interactive/2017/vietnams-new-found-submarine-power-and-where-it-came-from
https://www.fpri.org/article/2019/11/resist-and-reward-vietnams-naval-expansion/
https://medium.com/indo-pacific-geomill/vietnamese-navy-kilo-submarines-77ce5dc97b0b
https://thediplomat.com/tag/vietnamese-kilo-submarine/
https://www.rsis.edu.sg/rsis-publication/idss/1824-vietnams-new-kilo-class-subma/
https://www.cescube.com/vp-vietnam-s-purchase-of-kilo-class-submarines-and-military-modernization
The Vietnamese People's Navy (VPN) is ASEAN’s largest submarine operator, having ordered 6 Improved Kilo Project 626 boats in December 2009, with all boats delivered and in commission by 2017. While there was plenty of coverage prior to the commissioning of these submarines, There are no international articles I can find about their current operational service (including in Vietnamese English news sites).
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Vietnam has a long 3,260km coastline, bordering the Gulf of Tonkin, the South China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand (see map above). In general Vietnam faces the most PRC SCS greyzone disruption to its activities within its EEZ. Vietnam has also recently discovered the issue of undersea cable communication disruption, with all five data cables connecting Vietnam to the world ‘experiencing issues’. Undersea cables are often broken by fishing and anchoring activities, but tensions in the SCS are becoming more of an issue.
Vietnam’s
submarine force is ideally located to targetChina’s naval and civilian
surface ships as well as Chinese submarines in the South China Sea. While the
VPN’s Kilos will act as a strong deterrent against PLAN belligerence in the
South China Sea, they face two main issues. The first is that China also has
the same Kilo submarine models, and the PLAN knows the class well for
anti-submarine warfare. The second is that Longpo
Naval Base, 400km Southeast of Hanoi,
on China’s Hainan Island, is the major fleet base complex of China's South
Seas fleet, including its aircraft carrier Shandong, other major surface units, SSBNs, SSNs
and SSKs.
Vietnam’s Kilos are apparently armed with anti-ship and also land attack versions of the Club S missiles. According to analysts in the region. The land attack missiles represent a significant shift beyond an anti ship, anti sub capability. Land attack is a deterrent complicating China's strategic calculations. These land attack missiles have an official range of 300 km (but probably more) representing a threat a potential threat to China's coastal cities. Vietnam may be the first Southeast Asian country to arm its submarine fleet with a land attack missile.
Vietnam is now facing increased pressure from the USA to upgrade its relations. Or should Vietnam revert to Chinese suzerainty, forty years after Vietnam fought off the PLA in the bloody 1979 invasion?
Shawn Chung
June 6, 2023