November 3, 2011:
Vietnam has received the last two of four Svetlyak class patrol boats from Russia. Vietnam received the first two of them nine years ago. The Svetlyaks are 390 ton, 39.5 meter (154 foot) long warships armed with a 76.2mm (3 inch) cannon, one AK-630 six barrel 30mm autocannon and some SA-18 shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles. The ship carries a crew of 28 and was designed in the early 1980s as a patrol ship for KGB (the Soviet era secret police). The KGB received the first one in 1988, but three years later the Soviet Union dissolved. Construction of the Svetlyaks continued, slowly and so far 26 have been built, mainly for the Russian Coast Guard.
The two additional Svetlyaks for Vietnam were delayed by supplier problems in Russia. Several key components were very late in arriving, and that delayed the completion of the ships.