Quote Originally Posted by Dayuhan View Post
Vietnam has a quite capable military, far beyond that of the Philippines, but the Chinese still harass their energy exploration ships and their fishermen. It's not likely that buying a few more ships or planes is going to alter the equation much.
Six Kilo class submarines in the Vietnamese navy will alter the equation rather a lot, especially if they can make cooperative arrangements with us. That is a lot of SSKs. The Royal Navy only has 7 SSNs. A lot will depend on the quality of the crews and how much time they have to work up the boats. By the way, does anybody know who is going to be helping them with the training?

I think that purchase makes it clear that the Vietnamese are concerned about Red China's intentions and they are not inclined to fool around too much.