Context: India gifted the indigenously-built in-service missile corvette INS Kirpan to Vietnam to enhance its naval capabilities. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh made the announcement after bilateral talks with his visiting Vietnamese counterpart General Phan Van Gang. The leaders also discussed ways to enhance “defence industrial capabilities by cooperation in defence research and joint production”.
During the recent meet security was the key domain of interaction
- Ministers focused on enhancing cooperation between defence industries of both countries and maritime security.
- India and Vietnam has earlier signed an MoU on mutual logistics support during defence minister visit to the South East Asian nation.
- The two Defence Ministers has earlier also signed the ‘Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam defence partnership towards 2030’.
- This bilateral exchange can thus be seen as a long term evolution of defence partnership between the two countries, starting from 2014 when Vietnam has procured 12 high speed patrol boats for the Vietnamese border guard force under a $100mn Line of Credit (LoC)
About INS Kirpan
- INS Kirpan is a Khukri class missile corvette displacing 1,350 tonnes and was commissioned into the Navy on January 12, 1991.
- It has a displacement of close to 1,400 tonnes, a length of 91 metres, a beam of 11 metres and is capable of speed in excess of 25 knots.
- The ship is fitted with a medium range gun, 30 mm close range guns, chaff launchers and surface-to-surface missiles.
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