ChineseTiger1986
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...just a thought of mine...I know operating aircraft carriers require a lot of money and human resources. And Vietnam is still far from reaching that point...BUT we need mighty sticks to protect our assets in Spratlys. You never know when the Chinese start a war against Vietnam again.
Nevertherless, as Vietnam shipyards can build any kinds of civil vessels up to 100,000t and more, so theoretically we can build aircraft carriers with foreign expertise, be from Russia, Japan or America. I don´t mention China here as they will never help us.
here for instance, a Vietnamese shipyard just completed a 60 meter Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) carrier.
You won't have the capability to build a Nimitz class carrier in the next 100 years, nor you can operate this kind of monster.
China can build the 100k tons civilian ship several decades ago, but look what we are now.
yes, having aircraft carrier is a challenge, operating it is a costly business, too. and surely it is not realistic in the next few years. I see no chance that China will ever help Vietnam, not now and neither in the future.
That sucks that the US still keeps arms embargo on Vietnam. I guess they have this loser mentality, holding arms embargo to anger Vietnam. They simply cannot forget the war.
Should the US decide to lift the embargo, I think, at first step Vietnam would request to buy some Aegis destroyers. At present, the major warships Vietnam has are 2,000t Gepard frigates and 3,000t Kilo subs. And they are no match to China.
The Arleigh Burke Flight IIA costs 2 billion USD per ship, while the future Flight III may cost close to 4 billion USD per ship.
Sure you want to bankrupt yourself with that tiny economy, don't you?