Vietnamese Navy Gepard frigates
An extensive analysis of the Vietnamese Navy Gepard frigates, their best combat surface ships.
The 4 Gepard frigates are the most recent and best surface ships in the Vietnamese Navy. Made in Russia, The Project 11661E Gepard 3.9 is considered a light frigate at a maximum displacement of 2200 tons.
Ordered in 2 batches of 2 ships each. All 4 are quite simmilar except that the first batch lacks the ASW package & the ship is slightly smaller. Their designationa and names are as follows:
011 Dinh Tien Hoang commissioned on March 2011
012 Ly Thai To commissioned on August 2012
015 Tran Hung Dao commissioned on February 2018
016 Quang Trung commissioned on February 2018
The Gepard (Cheetah in Russian) is 102.4m x 14.4m beam x 5.6m draft for the second batch ships and 102.14 m x 13.09 m x 5.3 m for the first batch ships.
The Gepard has a 20 day endurance and a 4,000 nm range at 10 knots. The Gepards have a crew of 103 people for the first batch units and 84 for the second batch due to improved automation. They also have space for an extra 16 personnel.
The first batch of Gepards had a price of $175 million each while the price of the second batch rose to $350 million each. No details of the deals have been released.
Gepard Construction & Propulsion
The Vietnamese frigates were built at the yard of the Tatarstan’s Gorky Shipbuilding Plant (Zelenodolsk Design Bureau) in Russia.
The hull and superstructure are constructed primarily of steel, with some aluminum-magnesium being used in the upper superstructure. The hull is divided into 10 watertight compartments. The ship is designed to remain afloat even when two side by side compartments are flooded.
They are equipped with fin stabilizers and twin rudders, and can use either gas turbines or diesel for propulsion in a CODOG configuration.
These vessels are capable of employing their weapons systems in conditions up to Sea State 5.
The Gepard Class is powered by a 2 shaft combined diesel or gas (CODOG) propulsion system comprising two gas turbines (29,300 shp each) and a Type 61D diesel (8,000 bhp) engine. The ship electric power is generated by three KVH 600, 600kW diesel alternator sets. The units of the second batch have an improved propulsion system, but there are no details about that.
The Vietnamese Gepards are equipped with a small bow thruster. The propulsion system provides a maximum speed of 28/29 knots (depending on which batch) and a cruising range of 4,000 nautical miles at a speed of 10kt.
Navigation Systems
The navigation radar is probably the MR-231 and it probably has the Ogon-M infrared navigation system for night time use.
The second batch Gepards use the Moskit-11661 Integrated navigation and ship control system pictured below. The first batch ships use a simpler system.
Embarked Helicopter
The ship carries a Kamov KA-28 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopter (export version of the Russian KA-27). The Vietnamese Ka-28 squadron belongs to the 954th Naval Aviation Brigade.
The mission of the helicopters is to detect, track and destroy submerged submarines at a depth of up to 500m.
The KA-28 has both day and night operations capability in all weather conditions. The helicopter can operate in conditions up to sea state 5 and at ranges up to 200km from the ship. The helicopter can flight at speeds up to 275km/h.
The hangar only shelters the nose of the helicopter.
The helicopter is equipped with a radar system for navigation and to detect surfaced submarines and responder beacons. The VGS-3 dipping sonar detects submerged submarines, determines the coordinates of the submarine and transfers the data in semi-automatic mode to data transmission equipment and weapon systems.
The helicopter is armed with one homing torpedo, one torpedo rocket, ten PLAB 250–120 bombs and two OMAB bombs. It is fitted with a heated torpedo bay, ensuring the reliability of weapons in low-temperature weather conditions.
The helicopter also has a magnetic anomaly detector (MAD) and an airborne receiver to detect and guide the helicopter towards sonar buoy radio transmissions. The KA-28 also has an IFF (interrogation friend or foe) system.
The KA-28 features a high power-to-weight ratio, small dimensions, maneuverability, simplicity of control, and safety of flight operations from ship decks in tough sea conditions and turbulent winds.
The KA-28, a modification of the KA-27, is powered by two TV3–117VK turboshaft engines, with increased power, fuel and take-off weight than the TV3–117KM engines of the KA-27.
The helicopter is fitted with a coaxial main rotor with folding blades. The composite blades are fitted with an electric thermal deicing system. The aerodynamic and design parameters allow the helicopters to be stowed in small shipborne hangars. The landing gear provides for safe take-off and landing on rocking ship decks. Corrosion-resistant materials have been used in the construction to ensure normal operation in active sea environments. The helicopter is fitted with ballonet flotation devices for emergency landing on water.
All KA-28s of the Vietnam Naval Aviation were recently overhauled and upgraded in Sevastopol, Russia.
Some of the KA-28 upgrades include: reinforcing and extending the life of the chassis, replace the older generation electronic equipment with modern digital equipment, installation of new LCD displays and a software upgrade including a new interface to use new weapon systems.
Gepard Weapon Systems
KH-35E/UE Uran / Super Uran anti ship missiles
The Gepard is armed with 8 Russian KH-35E or the newer KH-35UE Uran anti ship missiles. The KH-35 has a range of 130 to 300km depending on the version.
The KH-35E/UE is a subsonic sea skimmer missile that can fly at 3–5 meters above sea level. It has a 145 Kg warhead. The KH-35E is the export version of the Kh-35 while the KH-35UE Super Uran is the export version of the Russian KH-35U.
KH-35E Uran missile
The KH-35E missile has an aerodynamic design that is optimized for high subsonic speed, sea skimming flight to ensure an stealthy approach to the target. The missile has an aluminium alloy airframe. The missile has a folding wing and a folding tail fin. There are four clipped delta platform wings midway along the body and four slim trapezoid control fins at the rear. The wings and control fins are in X configuration and all fold.
The missile’s power plant consists of a detachable 120 kg solid propellant rocket booster fitted at the rear and a turbojet powerplant.
The KH-35E missile has been often called the “Harpoonsky” due to its similarity with the American Harpoon.
The KH-35E anti-ship aircraft missile flies toward its target at a speed of about the 300 m/s at a very low altitude. The standard sea-skimming altitude is 5–10 meters, but due to its high-precision radio altimeter, the missile can skim the sea waves at an altitude of 3–5 meters at the terminal phase of trajectory. Its guidance system combines inertial guidance for during the initial flight stage and active radar guidance during the remaining flight stage.
The KH-35E carries a 145 kg High Explosive Fragmentation (HE-FRAG) warhead. It was designed to pierce horizontally through the bulkheads and compartments prior to exploding inside the ship. This missile was designed to sink vessels with a displacement of up to 5 000 tons.
Target coordinates data can be inputted into the missile from the launch ship or external sources. Flight mission data is inserted into the missile control system after the input of target coordinates. An inertial system controls the missile in flight, stabilizes it at an assigned altitude and brings it towards the target. At a certain target range, the homing head is switched on to search for, lock on and track the target. The inertial control system then turns the missile toward the target and changes its flight altitude to an extremely low one. At this altitude, the missile continues the process of homing by the data fed from the homing head and the inertial control system until target impact.
The KH-35 can be employed in all weather conditions at sea states up to 5–6, day and night, under enemy electronic countermeasures. The missile has a low signature thanks to its small dimensions, sea-skimming capability and a special guidance algorithm ensuring highly secure operational modes of the active radar seeker.
Its X band, ARGS-35E active radar seeker operates in both single and multiple missile launch modes, acquiring and locking on targets at a maximum range of up to 20 km. A new radar seeker, the Gran-KE is now available as a more advance option for export customers.
KH-35-UE Super Uran Missiles
The KH-35UE is an advanced, heavily upgraded version of the KH-35E. It has a more advanced flight control system that allows the missile to bypass geographical features such as islands or heavily defended points; can attack targets behind protective areas, in semi enclosed spaces and can also attack land / coastal targets.
KH-35U retains the external dimensions of the KH-35, but has a new, much smaller izdeliye 64M turbofan engine enabling it to carry more fuel and doubling the range to 260 km.
The missile features improved performance: twice the maximum range (260 km); the maximum missile turn angle in the horizontal plane after launch of 130º (against 90º for the Kh-35E); twice the maximum firing altitude (10 km against 5 km). The missiles speed was also raised.
A combined guidance system using an inertial system, a GPS/GLONASS receiver for satellite navigation and the new U-502U active-passive radar seeker gives the KH-35UE better accuracy and higher jamming immunity, as well as a wider range of targets, under an ECM environment. The new seeker has a lock-on range of 50 km (compared with 20 km for the KH-35E). The Glonass receiver provides a secondary capability to attack fixed land/coastal targets. The seeker can acquire targets at sea state 6.
KCT-15 - The Vietnamese domestic version of the KH-35UE
A customized version of the KH-35UE is now licensed produced in Vietnam. The domestic versions is called KCT-15 and has a 300 km range and a 300 Kg warhead. (KCT in Vietnamese means: Kiểu Chống Tàu-15, meaning Anti-ship Type-15 produced since 2015). It’s believed that Vietnam is working on a land attack version of this missile and on extending its range.
In March 2017, the KCT-15 has been re-introduced under its new designation VCM-01 with more improvements after 2 years of R&D. It appears that VCM-01 means Viettel Cruise Missile number 01.
Air defense — Palma CIWS System
For air defense, the Gepard relies mainly on the Russian Palma CIWS System that carries 8 SOSNA-R laser guided missiles with a 10 Km range and two 30mm Gatling guns with a 4 Km range.
Palma provides fully automatic close-in protection for the ship against all types of aerial threats including anti-ship missiles flying at very low altitude, and uses combined input from radar, laser and IR systems, reportedly making it immune to electronic countermeasures.
The Palma system has two 30mm six-barrel AO-18KD Gatling guns. The guns fire 30mm armour piercing (APDS) and HE fragmentation/incendiary (HEFI) munitions. Each gun has 1,500 ready to use rounds, which have a cyclic rate of fire of 10,000 rounds per minute. The feeding system is of a linkless type. The gun muzzle velocity is 1100m/s. The gun’s range is 200 m to 4 Km and up to 3 Km altitude.
Palma System features:
- Multichannel, high-precision and ECM- resistant electro-optical fire control system includes TV and thermal vision channels, laser range-finder, laser beam missile guidance channel and missile direction finder.
- High jamming immunity due to the use of protected narrow-beam optronic channels to acquire and track the target, measure its range and guide missile onto it.
- The firing module is integrated with a MR-123 shipborne radar control system, thereby ensuring a stand-by mode of operation and combat combat capability in extremely adverse weather conditions
- Very high probability of defeating an antiship missile with a single missile or by the first gun burst. Very high probability of detonating a missile when hit. During the tests, the Palma system demonstrated a 95% probability kill.
- Combat capable in all-weather day/night conditions
- Can be operated independently or as a part of the ship’s air defense system.
- combined missile control system:
A - radio command system comes into operation at a boost stage
B - beam riding mode is activated when the rocket motor is separated and the missile is gathered into the sight-line - covertness thanks to absence of demasking HF radiation.
- quick reaction time of 3 to 5 seconds (from target detection to fire opening)
- complete automation of the combat processes
- automatic and semiautomatic target designation modes
- autonomous target tracking by use of automatic optronic control system with sector coverage and automatic target designation mode
- overlapping kill zones to account for possible deviation (os- cillation) of an antiship missile from the calculated trajectory
- This system can repel massive antiship missile attacks from different directions at extremely low altitudes and defeat them with a very high kill probability.
Trials revealed that one Palma firing module is more capable than two AK-630M artillery modules. The trials of Palma system on the Gepard 3.9 ship have confirmed very high accuracy of targeting and hight probability of shooting down targets by the first missile or by the first gun burst.
A complete Palma system is comprised of:
A — A firing module (A system can have up to 4 firing modules), that is connected to an integrated shipborne all-round surveillance and target designation radar (MR-123 radar). The height of the firing module is 2.3 meters. The weight of the firing module is 6.9 tons.
B — Below deck systems: digital computing system racks, the operator console and the power rack. The area for the below deck equipment fits within six square meters.
The firing module is comprised of
- An artillery mount comprised of two gatling AO-18KD 30mm guns, featuring very high muzzle velocity and long service life. The feeding system is of a linkless type. Each gatling gus has 6 barrels.
- An optronic system (the eye ball) for tracking and determining target coordinates. The advanced optronic system is comprised of TV and thermal imaging channels, and laser range finder
- 2 containers with 4 Sosna-R light hypersonic missiles each guided by a laser beam via small-size laser-beam channel of the optronic system.
- A gyro stabilization system with high-precision stabilization and shock absorption.
SOSNA-R Missiles
The SOSNA-R 9M337 (SA-24) is a short range, two-stage supersonic missile designed to protect the ship from fixed wing aircraft, helicopters and missiles. The missile uses radar guidance via radio command during the boost phase, transitioning to a high-precision, ECM-protected narrow beam laser guidance for mid-course corrections and the terminal phase. The missile has a short acceleration time and is characterized by high aeroballistic efficiency.
The 30kg (42 kg in its canister) missile can sustain maximum dynamic loads of 40Gs, cruises at a speed of 570 m/sec and has a top speed of 920 m/sec. SOSNA-R missiles are designed to engage targets at ranges of 1–10 km and altitudes up to 5 km. The Sosna-R maximum target speed is 500 m/s (Mach 1.6).
The missile payload is made up of two warheads weighing a total of 7 kg. The fragmented-rod warhead is designed for proximity detonation when flying close to the target, while the armor-piercing/fragmentation (AP-Frag) warhead goes off on impact.
The missile has two stages: a rear booster stage with four folding fins, which accelerates the missile to a speed of 900 m/s, before separating and falling away. The second stage has four fixed fins, and four steerable control surfaces. The complete missile is around 2.4 meters long
Air defense — AK-630M Guns
The Gepard also carries two AK-630M 30mm guns in the rear area of the ship.
The AK-630M is a Soviet era fully automatic 30mm, six-barreled, AO-18 Gatling gun used to protect ships from incoming anti ship missiles. The gun fires high velocity HE-FRAG incendiaries or fragmentation tracer projectiles. This is the same gun that is used in the Palma System.
The system’s primary purpose is defense against anti-ship missiles and other precision guided weapons, but it can also be used against fixed or rotary wing aircraft, ships and other small craft, coastal targets, and floating mines.
The maximum rate of fire is 5000 rounds/min while the muzzle velocity is 880 meters per second. The gun has an automatic belt fed by a drum magazine. The range is up to 4000 meters for air targets such as anti-ship missiles and 5000 meters for surface targets.
The gun is mounted in an enclosed turret and is directed by radar and television detection and tracking. The full weapon system is called A-213-Vympel-A, which is composed of the AK-630M Gun module, the MR-123–02 Fire Control Radar System, and optical and TV control systems.
The TV control system can detect small size ships at the distance of 70 km (36 nm) and small fighter jet targets at 7 Km. This system is completely automatic and does not require human supervision although it can be remotely controlled by an operator from either the control console or via a remotely mounted gunsight. This can be useful in case of damage or to fire on land targets.
The system has high jamming immunity due to its electro optical tracking and guidance systems.
The gun’s elevation angle is +88 degrees and depression angle is -12 degrees.
Unit weight without ammunition and external components is 1850 kg.
The gun is provided with 2000–3000 rounds.
The length of the barrel is 1620 mm (54 caliber) and the caliber 30×165mm AO-18[N 1].
AK-176 M / MA Main Gun
The Gepard carries a 76.2mm AK-176MA (AK-176M in the first batch) main gun with a range of about 15 km.
The AK-176M is a Soviet era, single-barrel, automatic gun mounted in an enclosed turret and its operated by remote control from the ship’s fire control system. There are no personnel in the underturret compartment. The gun can be used against sea, coastal and aerial targets, including drones and low flying anti-ship missiles.
The AK-176M is fed by 152 ready to fire rounds and has selectable rates of fire of 30, 60 and 120 rounds per minute. The 120 r.p.m. rate is achieved by firing a burst of 75 rounds, but the gun has to cool off afterwards for about 30 minutes. The AK-176 is effective against missiles, taking an average of 25 rounds to shoot down a subsonic anti ship missile such as the Harpoon.
The 9.5-ton AK-176M features automatic command and control system and automatic selection of ammunition. The mount covers +/-175 degree in azimuth and -10-degree to +85-degree in elevation. The gun’s muzzle velocity is 980 m/s.
The Gun Mount works with a MR-123–02 Fire Control Radar System, television targeting and a laser rangefinder. The gun can still fire manually when power is down. The gun can also be aimed with a remote aiming sight (pictured below) if the fire control system or the radar is down.
The AK-176MA Gun
The AK-176MA is the latest version of the AK-176 family. The gun has an increased firing capability of at least 150 rounds per minute with greater accuracy.
The AK-176MA’s features a highly accurate digitally controlled servo mechanism system to turn the turret left or right and elevate or decline the gun. There is also the Sfera-2 optronic system that can acquire targets at a greater range in all weather conditions. The weight has been reduced to less than 9 tons.
14.5mm machine guns
The Gepard carries one 14.5mm machine gun on each side of the ship. It has an effective firing range of 3000m and a rate of fire of 600 rpm.
ASW Sensors and Weapon Systems
Torpedoes: For anti submarine warfare (ASW), the Gepard carries a twin launcher of 533mm torpedoes on each side of the ship. The Gepard uses TEST-71M-NK torpedoes.
The TEST-71M-NK torpedo is wire guided by an operator and can manually switch to an alternative target and it can manoeuvre in two axes. It has a 20 km range and a 35 Knot speed. The torpedo is 7.93 m long, the weight is 1.820 kg and has a 205 kg warhead. It has the advantage of using 2 different fuses, one activated by acoustics and one by the target’s magnetic field.
Gepard sonars
Its not known what sonars are carried by the Gepard ships, but that type of Russian ships usually carry the MGK-335EM-03 hull sonar suite. The MGK-335EM-03 is an Active/Passive hull sonar. The sonar has an scan angle of 260 degrees, and can detect submarines at a distance of 10-12 km and torpedoes at a 2 km distance.
Sonar Features:
•submarine detection in the active mode;
•automatic target tracking;
•provision of initial data for weapons targeting;
•target acquisition by noise emissions in thelistening mode, and torpedo attack warning;
•high- and low-frequency sonar communications, coded communications, and target identification with range-finding;
•detection of active sonar signals;
•automatic classification of the detected tar-gets;
•monitoring of acoustic interference with thesonar’s operation;
•target range prediction and display;
•automatic testing of the system’s operationalstatus.
Data from Rosoboronexport
Some Pictures of the Interior of the Gepard Ships
Gepard Sensors — Radars
The Gepard carries 3 main radars:
- The Pozitiv-ME1 3D search radar
2. The Mineral-ME fire control radar for the KH-35 anti-ship missiles
3. The MR-123 fire control radar for the 30mm guns, the 76mm guns and for the Palma system.
The Pozitiv-ME1 3D search radar: The radar mission is to search, detect and track air and surface targets. Also does the IFF identification function (friend or foe). The radar operates on X-band. Can track 40 targets while still having the ability to track 3 to 5 targets for missiles
The Pozitiv-ME1 3D radar has a rotation period of 2, 5, 10 or 20 seconds and can detect targets at a distance of up to 150 kilometers flying at altitudes of up to 30,000 meters.
Fighter size air targets with an RCS> 1 m2 flying at an altitude of 1,000 m get detected at a range of 110 km.
Anti-ship missiles (RCS> 0.03 m2) flying at a height of 15 m, get detected from a distance of 13-15 kms.
The Mineral-ME Radar: The Mineral-ME is a multifunctional set of active and passive surface search radars used for searching, detection, tracking, identification, classification and positioning of surface targets. The Mineral-ME does the fire control for the KH-35 anti ship missiles.
The Mineral-ME system comprises:
- Mineral-ME1 active radar (I-band);
- Mineral-ME2 passive radar (I,E,F,G and D bands);
- Mineral-МЕЗ data exchange and orientation radar (I-band).
All radars are built around a single device.
The Active Radar Channel is intended to perform the following tasks:
- search, detection, tracking, recognition, classification and determining coordinates of surface targets;
- receiving and processing radar data from airborne remote surveillance system;
- target designation for own missile weapon, ships of Task Force and coastal missile system by DEORdr.
The Passive Radar Channel provides for:
- over-the-horizon detection of the radars emission;
- determining coordinates of the emitting radars by triangulation;
- targets classification according to the type emitting radar;
- target designation for missile weapon.
In active mode the radar has a maximum detection range of 250 kilometers while in passive mode can detect targets at ranges of up to 450 kilometers. Weapon guidance is effective at a range of up to 30 kilometers while engaging up to 10 targets simultaneously. The Mineral-ME radar is able to monitor up to 200 surface targets, tracking up to 50 targets (passive) or 30 targets (active mode) while exchanging target data with up to 9 surface ships.
MR-123 radar system (LASKA): The Laska fire control radar is designed to monitor the surface & air situation and to control the fire of 30mm and 76mm gun systems against air/missile targets as well as small-size surface targets. It also gives target data to the Palma system.
MR-123 radar system features Self-sustained acquisition and identification of radar-contrast targets in circular and sector scanning modes. The radar also does track-while-scan of up to four air/surface/coastal targets in one layer circular or sector surveillance mode. This radar works in the I and H frequency bands.
The MR-123 radar system is composed of:
•surveillance and precision tracking radar
•integrated laser/TV channels
•fire control system comprising display and control panel
Sigma-E Combat management System (CMS)
The Sigma-E CMS is the heart of the ship. The CMS is the computer and software that integrates all of a ship’s weapons, data, sensors and other equipment into a single system. All of the ship’s sensors and weapon systems are connected to the CMS and are controlled from it.
The CMS is the central command and decision-making element of a ship’s combat system. Basically, it allows the crew to counter threats faster and more efficiently, especially during combat operations.
The CMS enables the crew to perform multiple tasks such as data processing, threat evaluation, decision making, control of on-board weapons, and engagement of targets in response to multiple threats.
The SIGMA-E Combat Management System provides automation of the following processes:
- tactical situation data processing and generation for ships;
- ship control;
- ship air defence control;
- ship underwater warfare control;
- ship anti-surface warfare control;
- anti-submarine helicopters (Ka-28 type) control;
- training and instruction;
- ship mine countermeasure weaponry control;
- data exchange via radio communication equipment.
The Sigma-E combat management system (CMS) can be equipped with up to 12 work stations to monitor a range of command and control processes.
Source agat.ru
Electronic Warfare Systems & Countermeasures
The Gepard ships have the MP-405 E and MP-407E ECM electronic countermeasures (ECM) systems, a sonar countermeasures system, a Spektr-F4 laser detection station and four PK-10 decoy dispenser systems.
MP-405 E and MP-407E ECM systems:
These ECM system are designed to intercept emissions of airborne and shipborne electronic emitting platforms such as target acquisition radars, weapons control radars and anti-ship missile radar seekers, and perform automatic signal classification to classify the threats based on their degree of danger and to provide jamming of such threats. These systems also generate false signals and disrupt their command and control systems. These systems include 2 Bell Shroud passive interceptors & 2 Bell Squat jammers.
Pk-10 Decoy Countermeasures Launcher — The PK-10 decoy dispenser system is intended to give the ship a short-range decoy capability. Its rounds form chaff and flare decoys used to protect the ship against missiles fitted with radar or optical guidance systems.
The Gepard ships carry four PK-10 decoy launchers, 2 at the front and 2 at the rear of the ship.
The PK-10 dispenses decoys in close vicinity of the ship, whose signatures are greater than those of the ship. As a result, the homing system of an attacking missile either loses track of the ship or is seduced by a decoy.
One PK-10 decoy launcher carries 10 rockets of 120mm each. The rockets are either the A3-SR-50 and A3-SO-50 or A3-SOM-50 rounds. The rocket Caliber is 120 mm, the length is 1,22 m and the weight is 25 kg.
Differences Between Ships of the First and Second Batch
- Unlike the first batch, the second batch ships carry a full antisubmarine package (ASW).
- The first batch ships carry a AK-176M, 76.2mm gun while the second batch ships carry the more advanced AK-176MA gun.
- The size is 102.4m x 14.4m beam x 5.6m draft for the second batch ships and 102.14 m x 13.09 m x 5.3 m for the first batch ships.
- The Gepards have a crew of 103 people for the first batch units and 84 for the second batch due to improved automation.
- Second batch ships use the more sophisticated Moskit-11661 Integrated navigation and ship control system.
Laguna-11661 Simulation & Training System for Gepard Ships
The Vietnamese Navy has a training facility for the Gepard ships with the state of the art Laguna-11661 Simulation training system.
Some more pictures of the Gepard frigates
Many thanks to all the sources that have contributed information for the making of this article including the friendly admin of facebook.com/WarComissar
Published at Medium on November 30, 2018
Author’s twitter handle: @China_SCS_Info
The author is a European man based in Da Nang, Vietnam. He is Interested in the geostrategy & military balance of power between China and its opponents in the Indo-Pacific and likes to study and comment on those subjects.
