Vietnam Cuts Steel on Its First Indigenous Frigate; All Nine It Has Now Are Russian Designs

Vietnam began construction of its first indigenously designed multipurpose frigate on August 10, 2026, with a steel-cutting ceremony at Song Thu Corporation's shipyard in Da Nang. It is the largest and most advanced warship the country has designed itself, and the first major surface combatant in the Vietnam People's Navy that is not a foreign design.

The ship displaces between 2,500 and 3,000 tonnes on a hull of roughly 105 meters. Naval News reports an armament of one 76 mm gun derived from the AK-176, a 12-cell vertical launch system in two six-cell blocks, two quadruple anti-ship missile launchers, two twin man-portable air-defense launchers, two trainable 533 mm torpedo tubes, two AK-630M close-in weapon systems and RBU-6000-pattern anti-submarine mortars. Sensors include a phased-array multifunction radar with four fixed panels, a separate fire-control radar, a hull sonar and provision for a towed array. A flight deck supports a maritime helicopter.

Propulsion is understood to be a four-engine arrangement, probably two diesels and two gas turbines. Viettel Group and state military factories supply the combat management system, the electronic support measures and most of the weapons. Assembly is expected to take 36 months.

Deputy Defense Minister Pham Hoai Nam said the design carries "a very high proportion of domestically developed weapons and technical systems," and that "becoming a strong maritime nation requires a capable navy commensurate with the country's stature."

The contrast with the fleet in service is the point of the exercise. GlobalMilitary.net's 2026 inventory for Vietnam lists nine frigates — four Russian-built Gepard-class and five Soviet-era Petya-class light frigates — alongside twelve Project 1241 Molniya missile corvettes, several of them assembled under Russian license at Ba Son, three South Korean Pohang-class corvettes and one Indian Khukri-class transferred second-hand, plus six Kilo-class submarines. Every one of them is a foreign design. Vietnam sits 26th in the global military power ranking.

Hanoi has been working to reduce that dependence for a decade, and the timing reflects more than industrial policy. Russia's shipbuilding capacity has been absorbed by its own war, and what Vietnam needs most are anti-submarine platforms for the South China Sea, where it contests features and maritime claims with China. The program follows a 2016 party resolution committing the country to become a "strong country of the sea."

Neither the number of hulls planned nor a commissioning date has been announced. On the stated 36-month assembly schedule, the first ship would not be ready before 2029.