Russian Naval Assistance to Vietnam Growing

A Kilo class submarine undergoing repair.

Russia will build a submarine base and a dry dock for the Vietnamese People's Navy's (VPN). The announcement comes following the VPN's purchase of six Russian Kilo class submarines and other naval platforms and weapons systems, including two 2,000-ton Gepard class frigates and an unspecified number of fast attack craft (FAC). Including naval hardware, Vietnam has placed orders from the Russian defense industry totalling USD 3.5 billion between 2008-09.

Vietnam's naval buildup is understood as part of the rapidly emerging country's efforts to elevate its national defense capabilities, particularly at sea to protect its claim to the Paracel and Spratly Islands, over which Vietnam has a dispute with China and several other South-East Asian countries.

China, in particular, seems to concern Vietnam. China allegedly desires to establish the South China Sea as a municipality named Sansha, and China's relatively new naval installation on Hainan Island has been understood to support China's political desires to realize the municipality's establishment.

Vietnam has in the past entered into violent altercations with China over these islands, including a People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) attack in 2005 on a Vietnamese fishing vessel, which killed nine and injured seven Vietnamese civilians, and a PLAN attack in 2007, which killed one and injured several.