Vietnam's 4th Klub Missile Armed Kilo Sub Due to Arrive June 2015

Various sizes of Klub/Sizzler/SS-N-27 missile, with submarine launched 3M54 second from top 8.22 meters long, 533mm diameter for torpedo tube launch.

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Animation of land attack by submarine launched 3M54 Klub/Sizzler/SS-N-27 missile.

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The location of cargo ship Rolldock Storm, which is carrying the fourth [Kilo submarine for Vietnam] submarine codenamed HQ-185 Khanh Hoa, at 6:20 p.m. on [May 28, 2015]. Photo credit: Marine Traffic [via thanhniennews.com]

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I have added changes and links in [...] brackets to the following articles.

US StrategyPage reports, May 31, 2015, https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htsub/20150531.aspx:

Submarines: China Objects To Getting Klubbed

"May 31, 2015: China is making angry noises to the UN, Vietnam and Russia about the little publicized Russian sale of Klub submarine launched cruise missiles to Vietnam. China wasn’t happy about Russia selling Vietnam six Kilo class diesel electric submarines in 2009. Russia and Vietnam were quiet about the sale of 50 Klub missiles but the news eventually got out, in part because 28 of the Klub missiles have already been delivered,… The [Russian 3M54 (also known as the SS-N-27, Sizzler or Klub)] anti-ship missiles can also be aimed at targets on land and that’s what really bothers the Chinese…

Weighing two tons, and fired from a 533mm (21 inch) torpedo tube on a Kilo class sub, the 3M54 has a 200 kg (440 pound) warhead. The anti-ship version has a range of 300 kilometers, but speeds up to 3,000 kilometers an hour during its last minute or so of flight. There are also air launched and ship launched versions. The land attack version does away with the high speed final approach feature and that makes possible a larger 400 kg (880 pound) warhead.

What makes the 3M54 particularly dangerous when attacking ships is that during its final approach, which begins when the missile is about 15 kilometers from its target, the missile speeds up. Up to that point, the missile travels at an altitude of about 30 meters (a hundred feet). This makes the missile more difficult to detect. That plus the high speed final approach means that it covers that last fifteen kilometers in less than twenty seconds. This makes it more difficult for current anti-missile weapons to take it down."

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 Vietnam's THANHNIEN NEWS reports, May 31, 2015 http://www.thanhniennews.com/politics/4th-russianbuilt-submarine-set-to-arrive-in-vietnam-next-month-44001.html :

"4th Russian-built submarine set to arrive in Vietnam next month" 

"The [HQ-185 Khánh Hoà the fourth of the six Kilo-class submarines] that Vietnam has contracted to buy from Russia is scheduled to arrive in Vietnam [in June 2015].

The submarine [HQ-185 Khánh Hoà] is currently carried by the Dutch-registered cargo [ship Rolldock Storm] which is on its way to Vietnam.

It is docking at a port in the Canary Islands off the southern coast of Morocco for fuel filling.

The submarine is scheduled to be delivered to Cam Ranh Port in late June.

Meanwhile, the fifth submarine codenamed HQ-186 Da Nang completed a two-week trial run [in the Baltic Sea near Russia] and returned to Svetly Shipyard (Kaliningrad, Russia) on Thursday, according to Russian media.

The first three submarines named after Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Hai Phong, arrived in Vietnam in 2014 and early 2015.

The delivery of the sixth and last one, HQ-187 Ba Ria-Vung Tau, is scheduled for [2016].

The six submarines are built under a US$2-billion deal signed during a Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's visit to Russia in 2009.

Russia will deliver all by 2016, train Vietnamese crews, and supply necessary spare parts."

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Please connect with Submarine Matters:

-  Vietnam's Russian Speaking Submarine Service, April 21, 2015  http://gentleseas.blogspot.com.au/2015/04/vietnams-russian-speaking-kilo.html and

-   Vietnam's Kili Subs Being Steadily Built by Russia, July 7, 2013 http://gentleseas.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/vietnams-kilo-subs-steadily-being-built.html.

Pete