Vietnam is reportedly close to finalising a US$1.8 billion deal with Russia to buy six Kilo-class submarines - a move that could carry sweeping implications for regional security.
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted a report in the Russian business daily Kommersant that the deal to deliver six of the diesel-electric submarines to the Vietnamese navy had been under discussion for a year and would soon be completed. If finalised, the deal would complete a two-decade effort by Hanoi to obtain Kilos - one of the stealthiest submarines available - to better protect its South China Sea claims from China's naval build-up, regional military analysts and diplomatic sources said.
'If this takes place as reported it will be a very significant development for everything that is going on in the South China Sea,' Carl Thayer, a veteran Vietnam military watcher with the Australian Defence Force Academy, said.
'It is further evidence that Vietnam is determined to create a viable deterrent to China in the South China Sea, whatever Beijing's intentions are ... Vietnam knows it could never match China but it could at least make any conflict over disputes a very complex proposition.'
Neither Hanoi nor Moscow has yet to formally comment.
Equipped with missiles, the Kilo is designed for anti-submarine and anti-surface ship warfare as well as the surveillance and penetration missions that make submarines so sought after by regional militaries. They will join an expanding fleet of Russian-designed Tarantul missile corvettes and frigates operated by Vietnam, as well as SU-27 jet fighters.