Remember that vietnam already operates kilos. So its not exactly new to them. In addition, the deal with russia also stipulates that vietnamese crews get trained in russia.
Dont underestimate the vietnamese navy
REALLY, since when Vietnamese navy operating KILO ? ... news to me
you haven't included Mings, there are 17 Mings. I know it is obsolete against Japanese SSK, but heyyy ... it is still better than most of SSK in the region, including the Taiwanese ones. And they are in operational state and most of them are relatively new (built in 1990s)
No country in the region (apart from Japan, SK and perhaps Taiwan) is able to detect Ming, so in theory, 1 single Ming could destroy the whole Philippines navy or destroy big part of Vietnamese navy
Yulin-Kilo's & Song's
That picture ought to satisfy asif iqbal: Two KILO's and one SONG are missing, away on operations...
or they were just not photographed in this picture. The kilos are known in PLAN to spend far more time resting or getting work done at the shipyard than actually in training.