Japan sells military ships to Vietnam for the first time, and Russian experts say their intention

[global network military report] Russian satellite news agency reported on August 19 that kolotov, director of the Far East National History Teaching and research section of St. Petersburg State University, said in an interview that Japan and Vietnam’s agreement on purchasing patrol boats was an attempt to exclude Russia from Vietnam’s arms market. < p > < p > Japan Times reported on August 11 the agreement between Japan and Vietnam on the supply of six patrol boats. Japan will provide Vietnam with $345 million worth of ships in the form of credit. Japan has previously sold fishing boats to Vietnam, the first time it has sold military equipment to Hanoi. Russian expert kolotov said that Vietnam’s navy is based on frigates, missiles and patrol boats made by the Soviet Union and Russia. Japan’s sale of six patrol boats to Vietnam may be one of the U.S. measures to limit Russia’s presence in the global arms market. In May 2016, the United States announced the lifting of the arms embargo on Vietnam made in 1984. “Japan can not independently exercise its foreign policy and security policy, and all measures are made through consultation with the US side,” kolotov said. Six patrol boats won’t change the balance of power, but there are a lot of deals like this, not just with Japan. From the perspective of weapons production, Vietnam is completely unable to be self-sufficient. ” “The fast patrol boat meets the needs of Vietnam, and it can carry almost any kind of weapons, especially with large caliber heavy machine guns,” klotov said < / P > < p > Russia once sold several su-30mkv aircraft to Vietnam, and the Vietnamese air force is one of the countries with the largest number of Su-30 fighter planes in the world, ranking second only to Russia, India and China in number. In recent years, the most important weapons Russia has sold to Vietnam include six large diesel electric submarines of 06361 project, S-300PMU-1 air defense missile system and t-90s tank. In addition, according to Russian media reports, Vietnam also purchased four cheetah-3.9 class frigates from 2011 to 2017, and announced plans to purchase two more such frigates.