Vietnam joins submarine arms race amid South China Sea tensions

Vietnam finally has a new weapon against the Chinese maritime expansion after receiving its first Kilo-class submarine from Russia on the last day of 2013, according to the Washington-based Strategy Page on Feb. 20.

 

The submarine is the first of six 2,300-tonne Kilo-class submarines to arrive in Vietnam after the country signed a US$2.1 billion deal with Russia in 2009. The submarines are likely to be based at Cam Ranh Bay, a deep water port located in southern Vietnam, Strategy Page said. The port was once used by the United States Navy during the Vietnam War, and later became a naval facility of the former Soviet Union.

 

A Kilo-class submarine is capable of carrying 18 torpedoes or SS-N-27 anti-ship missiles. The SS-N-27 can be launched underwater from the torpedo tubes and its range is estimated to be 300 kilometers. Combined with its quietness and Russian cruise missiles, the Kilo-class submarine is a very dangerous weapon against the surface combat vessels of the People's Liberation Army Navy operating in the disputed South China Sea, the report said.

 

Other nations such as North Korea, Iran and China have also imported Kilo-class submarines from Russia. China is said to have gone one step further, designing its own unlicensed version of the Kilo-class, known as the Type 41 Song-class submarine.

 

Vietnam was able to purchase the Russian-built submarines at a relatively low price, and they may not be equipped with air independent propulsion which would allow non-nuclear boats to stay underwater for weeks at a time, according to the Strategy Page.

 

Tensions between Hanoi and Beijing center around the disputed Paracel and Spratly islands in the South China Sea, while Taiwan, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei also lay claim to the area.