Reports from Vietnam says that their Navy have installed the
9K38 Igla Man Portable Air Defense System (MANPADS) on the
Pohang class Corvette that they received from South Korea.
I am posting below a translation of the article by Google Translate to English:
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Korean Pohang-class warships transferred to Vietnam are upgraded: More strong firepower?
Ly Vy |October 6, 2019 19:30
The latest images of the 18th guard ship of the 171th Brigade, Region 2 Navy show that the ship seems to have been fitted with a shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft missile launcher.
The 18th Guards was originally a Pohang-class corvette named Gimcheon (PCC-761 number) of the Korean Navy transferred to the Vietnam People's Navy in 2017.
After being commissioned, the ship underwent major repairs and upgrades at Factory X46 - Naval Technical Department, before returning to service on the 171th Brigade, Region 2 Navy.
At that time, this Pohang-class battleship retained the same weapon configuration as when it was handed over by Korea, including: a 76mm OTO Melara main gun mounted in the nose, a 20mm-sized Sea Vulcan cannon in the middle of the main cannon. and a superstructure and a 40mm DARDO 2 cannon on the rear of the ship.
However, the latest images of the last 18 ship show that the ship seems to have been upgraded with additional shoulder-mounted air defense missile launchers.
Originally on South Korean Navy Pohang-class corvettes were fitted with Mistral shoulder-mounted air defense missile launchers.
The location of this launch pad is located just behind the ship's radar tower (the area circled in red in the image below).
However, it can be seen that when the 18th ship (Pohang-class battleship) was handed over to Vietnam, the location of the Mistral missile launcher was removed.
By comparing the images, it is likely that the launch pad for Vietnamese-made Igla shoulder-mounted missiles has been installed on some ships of the Vietnam People's Navy.
Thus, with the installation of additional shoulder-mounted missile launchers, it will help to increase the anti-aircraft defense capability of the 18 escort, in addition to anti-aircraft guns and machine guns.
This also shows our ability to upgrade and replace weapons on warships to increase strength, ensure uniformity of technical weapons.
SOURCE: Tàu chiến lớp Pohang Hàn Quốc chuyển giao cho Việt Nam được nâng cấp: Thêm hỏa lực mạnh?
