Image source: topwar.ru
The Vietnamese Navy has completed the modernization of two Petya II–class frigates - this is how NATO designates the patrol ships of the Soviet project 159, which are used for air defense and patrol.
As indicated in the Asia Pacific Defense Journal, the work has been carried out since 2020 at the Song Thu Corporation shipyard in Da Nang and included the restoration and modernization of the HQ-09 and HQ-17 ships. Among the changes made are the redesigned superstructure, including the bridge; improvement of the ship's electrical and mechanical systems, during which some Soviet-era components were replaced with more modern ones. At the same time, the configuration of weapons seems to have remained the same, although the combat systems have also been repaired.
Both ships that returned to service were previously the most advanced pennants of the Vietnamese navy, until in the last decade more modern Russian frigates with Gepard-class guided missiles and refurbished South Korean Pohang-class corvettes were received, some of which were armed with the Uran-E missile defense system from the Russian Federation.
The patrol ships of Project 159 were developed in the 1950s and were built for the Soviet Navy in the 1960s. These were the first pennants in the Soviet Navy equipped with gas turbines. They are able to work in shallow water, including due to a small displacement of 1,150 tons (at full load). Their armament included 76-mm cannons, RBU-6000 anti-submarine rocket launchers and 400-mm torpedo tubes.
Image source: topwar.ru
- it is noted in the press.
