The used vessels, worth 500 million yen (£2.8 million), would be accompanied by training and equipment to help the coastguard and fisheries surveillance effort, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said after talks with Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh.
The deal represents a notable shift in the two countries' close diplomatic and investment ties towards defence, a move likely to irk an increasingly assertive China that is pressing hard on claims to nine-tenths of the potentially energy-rich sea, and worrying much of the region.
"International security is getting more complicated... prosperity only comes with stability in the South China Sea and the East China Sea," Kishada told a news conference in Hanoi.
"I hope this equipment will strengthen the ability of Vietnam's coastal enforcement authorities."
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