One more advantage of Barak-8 is that it able to make sharp turns,,means uptp 80g.
80gs is really nice, have to admit, the Israelis are top when it comes to air defense, Iron Dome, Barak 8, Spyder (with a version of MF / STAR on top of it), Magic wand / David's sling, Arrow 3.
if you have a combo of those systems, there is no need for S-400, the Israeli systems are better, look at Magic wand / David's sling:
400 km range
50 km altitude range (that's a lot, S-400 just 27 km)
Missile with dual seeker, infrared and active radar seeker, that's unique, try to escape from that.
Speed of mach 7.5, yes 7.5 (4.5 for Aster 30)
By the way, one limitation / vulnerability of S-300 / 400 systems (also for the Patriot system) that nobody talks about is that since all their missiles are guided by fire control radars and a fire control radar is very directional (just a 90 degree angle), if an S-300 / 400 battery is under attack, its very easy to destroy it, just need to send missiles that attack from all directions and the fire control radar can't handle that, it can only handle one direction and there is usually just 1 fire control radar per battery. That's why Vietnam had to buy Pantsir S1 systems, those are mainly used just to protect those batteries, same in Russia.
Barak 8 and Aster 30 on the other hand, they handle a 360 degree angle, those systems don't use fire control radars, those missiles have autonomous radar seekers that home into the target after launch.
Destroyers aren't useless, but, I agree, its time would be after Vietnam has enough of medium frigate, fast attack missile boats.
Its all a matter of money, if Vietnam were to be like a Japan, then by all means it should have a lot of destroyers and it would have a chance of achieving naval superiority in the SCS, but since Vietnam is not Japan, then it has to concentrate on what it works and watch the money.
From my perspective, its not worth it to buy the third batch of Gepards, those are not good enough and will be very expensive if they have the Shtil system. Actually, I think the whole Gepard program is a mistake, VN should it have gone for Sigmas much earlier, they took forever to negotiate the contract. If they were to have started at the same time as Indonesia, then by now VN would it have a few Sigmas and it would also be making them under license.
I heard Thailand also being offered this subs. But in my personal opinion, Land and Air warfare will dominating Vietnam - China war, while PLAN will blocking supplies from the sea and their subs scattered in depth. Navy is good but Vietnam should spend more on its Army and Air defence.systems.
Land warfare I very much doubt it, I don't think the chinese want to try another one like in 1979. The current disputes can result in a naval / air conflict that can extend into attacking land bases at the most.
Naval, air, air defense, coastal missile batteries and possibly ballistic missiles is what its needed.
VN is spending plenty in air defense and radar networks actually, including systems optimized to detect stealth aircraft, but I think VN is getting behind in terms of aircraft.
The other very important element also is to have a whole ecosystem for stand off surveillance and targeting.