The Vietnamese are being smart about building their navy.
Their Molnyia class is a MUCH improved Tarantul corvette (of which they also have four). They have two Russian made ships and now the four locally built ships. Vietnam started its own production line of these 1241.8 Molnyia class ships with the assistance of Almaz Central Design Bureau from Russia. The first two locally built ships were delivered in July 2014, and now two more in June 2015, Pretty good for Vietnam.
These ships are armed with a AK-176 76mm main gun, sixteen (!) Uran-E anti ship missiles, four Igla-M air defense missiles and two AK-630 close in weapon systems. They have a range of 1,700 nautical miles (3,100 km; 2,000 mi) with 44 crew members on board.
Here are some pictures of the new vessel:
With their ultimate four Gephard frigates, their soon to be built two Sigma frigates, ultimately having eight of these, four Tarantuls, and especially their six new Improed Kilo...they would make it very expensive...probably too expensive... for anyone wantng to have their way with Veitnamese interests in he SCS off of their coasts.
