This is the first time India has gifted a fully operational, in-service corvette to any friendly foreign country. The transfer of the warship comes a year after India handed over 12 high-speed boats to the Vietnamese Navy to boost its capabilities under a $100 million line of credit to that country.

• The Indian Navy decommissioned INS Kirpan and handed over the indigenously built missile corvette to the southeast Asian country’s navy at Cam Ranh as a gift, with the ceremony presided over by navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar and Vietnam People’s Navy (VPN) deputy commander-in-chief Rear Admiral Pham Manh Hung. 
• The transfer of the warship comes a year after India handed over 12 high-speed boats to the Vietnamese Navy to boost its capabilities under a $100 million line of credit to that country.