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Hong Ha Shipbuilding Company or Z173 Factory under the Ministry of Defense has successfully built a gunboat, the first of its kind in Vietnam.

Weapons are being installed on ship TT400TP

The ship, named TT400TP, has automatic weapons capable of destroying other vessels and protecting Vietnamese bases for amphibious assault, as well as escorting civil ships and naval patrols.

The ship has maximal speed of 32 nautical miles per hour and can operate on sea for 30 days, even in winds at level 9 to 10.

The ship is installed with modern equipment such as a control system for the main and auxiliary engines, fire warning system and weapons control systems. It is expected to enhance the Vietnamese navy’s strength.

Step forward

The project to build the ship was started 7 years ago, under Colonel Nguyen Van Cuong, director of the Hong Ha Shipbuilding Company. At first the question was whether to build military vessels domestically with Vietnamese expertise and resources, or to purchase them from other countries.

Two years later the company proposed to buy designs from abroad, and cooperate with the army\'s design institute to for construction. This helped to reduce costs by 90%; from USD10 million for purchasing one, to just hundreds of thousands.

Cuong said that the company sent hundreds of Vietnamese engineers to institutes both in-country and abroad for intensive training.

The company’s management board spent their own money to buy the preliminary design and then submitted a feasibility report to the investor, Vietnam People’s Navy and the Ministry of Defense.

As of April 22, 2009, the company laid down a keel for the ship and the construction was completed in August.

Colonel Nguyen Van Dac, political commissar of the shipyard, said, “We hope that we can build the third TT400TP battleship with our own technology design.”