Anger in China over Russian sale of Klub missiles to Vietnam

US-based military news site Strategy Page published an article on May 31 entitled "Submarines: China Objects To Getting Klubbed," stating that China has lodged complaints with Russia, Vietnam and the US after Moscow agreed to sell 50 submarine launched 3M54 Klub missiles to Hanoi, according to the website of China's Global Times.

The Strategy Page report stated that although Russia and Vietnam have been trying to keep the deal on the down low, 28 of the Klub missiles have already been delivered to Vietnam. China is particularly concerned because the Klub missile can also be used to strike ground targets. The article stated that the submarines of India, Algeria and Vietnam are currently using the missiles and they are said to be highly effective, despite previous problems with the missile encountered on failed Indian test fires in 2007.

The Klub missile weighs 2 tonnes, with a warhead of 200 kilograms, and is fired from a 533 mm torpedo tube on submarines, according to the report. The anti-ship version of the missile has a range of 300 km and can reach a speed of up to 3000 km per hour in the final minute of its trajectory, the report said. With a 400 kg warhead, the land attack version of the missile does not have a high terminal stage speed, the report said.

The missile speeds up in the last 15 minutes of its approach, which it covers in just 20 seconds, before which it travels at an altitude of 30 m, making it difficult to detect and to counter, the report said.

The Klub resembles the 3M80 and P700 missiles which were commissioned at the end of the Cold War, the report said. However, Russian missiles have little experience in combat and are unreliable, according to the report, although this has improved with civilian contractors in recent years.

China currently has no effective defense against the Klub missile, which is likely why they are making such an issue out of the deal, the report said.

Russia also agreed to sell six Kilo-class submarines to Vietnam in 2009, which provoked ire from Beijing as well, the report said.