of course operating a submarine is not easy, especially for the country with limited resource like vietnam, one kilo may suck one third of your annual defense spending. you know what, the most qualified mentor who can educate viet on kilo operation is not russian, it is chinese PLA NAVY, once you take the south china sea into kilo's operation scenario. russian just knows little about how SCS would look like for a diesel submarine, while PLA NAVY has had the most active submarine operation in scs for decades. Thailand's decision makers take a very smart move this time to choose a best qualified submarine deal package. For the newcomer in submarine like thailand navy, at every obstacle they could meet in playing this beast in scs in the future, just make a phone call to beijing, they will pretty much immediately get the anwser like this, "hey guys, we got the problem before, don't panic, let me tell ya what to do....."is Vietnam their perceived enemy? why thailand does not go for the Kilo? whatever the case, if you think training and operating Kilo Subs are easy it is is a big mistake. China operates Kilo, I think you should have known better.
the training is reportely hard, very hard for our submariners. not only in warfare, but fitness and endurance. do you know our submarines speak russian? we have access to russian database. the Crew can communicate with russian sailors, holding meetings in russian language. no chance for chinese spies to get anything when listening. the men, yes, our submariners defend our country at sea. they are the first line, and probably, too, the last line of defence.