A mini submarine model built by a private mechanical company in northern Thai Binh province was given a trial run on January 6. The submarine, named after Vietnam’s Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago in the East Sea, was designed and manufactured by Nguyen Quoc Hoa, director of the Quoc Hoa Mechanical Company, located in the Phong Phu Industrial Cluster. It is 8.8 meters long and 3 meters wide and has a displacement of 12 tonnes when it is submerged and 9.2 tonnes when it is on the surface. Equipped with air independent propulsion (AIP) technology and advanced navigation equipment, the submarine is expected to be able to operate within a radius of 800km, dive to a depth of 50 meters and stay on the sea bed. The test run had been delayed several times as the sub failed to pass technical safety tests. Hoa and his colleagues planned to test the vessel from Thai Binh province’s Diem Dien port to Haiphong city’s Bach Long Vi island. If it proves successful, the vessel would set sail to Truong Sa in the second phase. The sub was designed to help defend national sovereignty and serve commercial purposes, especially fishing, according to Hoa. VOV