LANGKAWI /Malaysia/, March 18. /TASS/. The contract for construction of four Project 12418 missile boats for Vietnam may be signed in 2015, Oleg Belkov, the director general of the Vympel shipyard, told TASS at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA 2015).
Under a contract signed in 2003, Vietnam received two Russia-made vessels, and another ten are to be assembled under a licence in the Asian country. Construction of the first one of Project 12418 started in Vietnam in 2010. The licence is valid through to 2016.
According to Belkov, the four new missile boats Vietnam and Russia may sign a contract for will feature upgraded shipboard equipment.
The gas-turbine engines for the missile boats are produced at Ukraine's Zorya-Mashproekt plant in Nikolayev, but that won't cause any problems, the director said. The engines will be supplied directly to Vietnam. Belkov noted that there is the option of using Russian-made engines as well.
Oleg Belkov also said that exports of Russian high-speed boats Mangust (Project 12150) may start in 2015.
"I hope this year," Belkov said of the presumed date of the start of exports.
"We are actively working with Vietnam, India, Brazil. Some country will agree to order [Mangusts]," he said.
