Engineer Nguyen Quoc Hoa, who invented the Truong Sa mini submarine, has applied for the necessary procedures to obtain a license to test the sub at sea.

Hoa on September 10 told the press that he has received notices from the Naval Academy and Ministry of National Defence about the formalities needed to test the sub at sea.

He said that he is following the procedures to obtain a license and is now drawing up a testing plan.

“I hope the sub can go to the open sea by the fourth quarter of the year. I am happy about the state’s great interest in the submarine,” he said.

Prior to that, Hoa said in early August that a group of officials of the Ministry of National Defence would come to meet Hoa and examine the status of the submarine and its technical parameters.

The officials would report the examination results to the ministry’s leaders. If the examination shows good results, the ministry will set up a plan to help test the submarine in the safest and most effective way.

Hoa is still busy working with the submarine to upgrade it. In May 2014, he created two navigating wings on two sides of the sub’s body, helping it move more easily when it dives.

“Imagine how a fish swims. This will be exactly the way my submarine operates,” he said.

The engineer also realized that the temperature inside the sub during the operation was very high, thus affecting the crew.

Believing that the cause was the engine and exhaust pipe, he decided to make  improvements so that the equipment can be cooled with seawater.

“The problem has been settled. The temperature in the cabin is stable and cool enough for people inside,” he said, while declining to give details about the improvements.

The engineer spoke about his ambitious plan with Truong Sa and the other submarine models he plans to  make in the future.

“Why don’t we think of developing submarines for civil purposes?” he said. “Submarines will be very useful for many different economic sectors and people’s welfare. We are seriously lacking diving equipment”.

Hoa went on to say that the next-generation versions of Truong Sa submarine would be capable of handling many different tasks.

“They would serve as diving equipment to help explore the seabed and minerals, conduct archaeology projects and find fish shoals,” he said.

Dr. Nguyen Van Khai, a physicist, who praised Hoa’s invention, has suggested that the Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of National Defence should recognize Hoa’s submarine as a national scientific research project. If so, Hoa and his associates would then have more money to continue their project.

“I hope the State will run a program on manufacturing mini-submarines for economic development,” Khai said.

“This work is absolutely within our reach, and we will not have to buy subs from foreign manufacturers,” he added.