Vietnamese Navy Receives First Stealth Frigate

Vietnamese Navy Receives First Stealth Frigate: "On March 5 the Vietnamese Navy officially took into service the first Gepard class frigate. The ship named after the first Vietnamese emperor Dinh Tien Hoang is built in Russia by Zelenodolsk shipbuilding plant under the contract for two ships of the class inked in December 2010. The second frigate built for Vietnam has been in sea trials since August 2010.

Credit - Zelenodolsk plant

Vietnam became the first foreign customer for the Gepard class (Russian project Gepard 3.9), an export version of Russian project 11611 frigates. These frigates are designed for maritime patrol and border control operations. The Russian Navy has operated the launch ship of this project – Tatarstan in the Caspian fleet since 2003. In 2011 they are expected to get one more frigate – Dagestan – that is reportedly being built under an improved 11661K project. Zelenodolsk plant is reportedly assembling one more ship for the Russian Navy, but its major efforts have been focused at implementation of the Vietnamese contract so far.

Gepard frigate during sea trials (credits - Zelenodolsk plant)

The Gepard class ships have a stealth-shaped hull with a full displacement of about 2,100 tons and their cruising endurance is 5000 nautical miles. These frigates are armed with Kh-35E anti-ship missiles, the Osa-M air defense missile system, 76.3 mm and 30mm artillery guns, 533-mm torpedoes and antisubmarine mortars. Zelenodolsk plant reported that the Vietnamese ships received more fuel-efficient diesel engine instead of the gas turbine powerplant of the 1661 project frigates. Due to some improvements with the diesel, its speed grew to 21 knots (compared with the design of 18 knots)."