By IANS,
By RIA Novosti,
Moscow: Russia’s Admiralteiskie Verfi shipyard has launched a new diesel-electric submarine for Vietnam, a military-industrial complex sources said Tuesday.
The Kilo-class Project 636 diesel-electric submarine is the first of six ordered by Hanoi.
The Project 636 class boats displace 3,100 tonnes, have a top speed of 20 knots, can dive to 300 metres and carry a crew of 52. The boats are armed with 533-mm torpedo tubes and are armed with torpedos, mines, and Kaliber 3M54 (NATO SS-N-27) cruise missiles.
In December 2009, Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Zung announced the signing of a contract worth almost $2 billion for the six boats.
“The first boat will be launched on Tuesday and will begin tests soon after,” a shipyard source said earlier Tuesday. The boat is due to be delivered to the customer by the end of the year, he added. All six boats are due to be delivered by 2016.