VietNamNet Bridge – Following his great success, the owner of the Yet Kieu submarine is going ahead with his plan to make the next-generation version of the sub.

The Truong Sa submarine is expected to go into the open sea soon.

Phan Boi Tran, the inventor of the Yet Kieu submarine, on December 8 said the Yet Kieu version that was designed to serve tourism has been working well in Malaysia.

Five Yet Kieu's have been exported to Malaysia, but Vietnamese still look at the sub with dubious eyes. Tran said he still has contact with the Malaysian importers who are responsible for technical problems.

“All the five subs have been operating smoothly and the partner said the subs, put into use in the ecotourism site, have begun bringing profits,” Tran said. “However, they do not say how they have exploited the subs.”

He hopes his partner will build another 20 Yet Kieus. Under the agreement signed between Tran and the Malaysian partner, after buying the five subs, the partner will have the right to build 20 mini subs.

Analysts noted that the term of the contract will bring money to Tran, but this means Tran would face a risk of losing his invention.

Tran admitted that selling subs meant selling inventions, but said this was inevitable and that it occurs worldwide.

“Therefore, what I have to do is upgrade the invention, improve the products and seek new partners who have higher demands. If I can do this, I will successfully build a strong brand for myself,” Tran said.

He revealed that he is making the second version of Yet Kieu tourism sub. “The first generation of Yet Kieu is a bit inconvenient to users because half of its body is submerged under the water. Meanwhile, the second version would be much better and more convenient,” he said.

He went on to say that the subs exported to Malaysia can dive at a depth of 10 meters only, while the next-generation version of Yet Kieu will be able to dive at a depth of 50 meters, while observation, communication abilities, breathing equipment and driving conditions will also be upgraded.

Tran hopes with the new version, he would find more partners and sell subs at higher prices, because the new subs not only can be used in tourism but in many other works.

Like Yet Kieu, the Truong Sa sub, invented by Nguyen Quoc Hoa, an engineer and businessman in Thai Binh, is hoped to be licensed for testing and go to the open sea to show the “Vietnamese intellectual”.

Dat Viet