Vietnam Defence Forum

[fadine]

MOSCOW, January 9. /TASS/. Four Sazhen-TA mobile stations intended for visual measurements during rocket armament tests were supplied and deployed in Vietnam by Russia’s NPK Precision Instrument-Making Systems, the company said on Monday.

"Startup work was completed and four video theodolite posts 14Sh27 [Sazhen-TA mobile optical-electronic system - TASS] were put into service," the company said on its website.

Russian specialists also trained Vietnam’s counterparts in equipment handling and participated in launches of observation targets.

Sazhen-TA mobile system for outer trajectory measurements provides for measurements of the range and angular coordinates of targets in visible and IR bands and for recording of target flight phases.

More:
http://tass.com/defense/924099

 

[Silent Knight]

As for Russian missile test EM set, can you reveal a bit more?

It's pure speculation so far, as TASS mentioned that all 4 systems are "in active duty", not just "Vietnam is interested in" or "intend to buy" such systems.

That's why I said this could be a significant news, especially it was revealed just 2 days before the General Secretary visits China.

 

[Viet]

It's pure speculation so far, as TASS mentioned that all 4 systems are "in active duty", not just "Vietnam is interested in" or "intend to buy" such systems.

That's why I said this could be a significant news, especially it was revealed just 2 days before the General Secretary visits China.

sounds nice. Sazhen-TA mobile system can monitor missile flight path up to a distance of 1,000 km away. perfect for our ballistic land attack missiles such as EXTRA and others

 

[Viet]

History

38 years ago, on January 7, 1979, Vietnamese tank army launched the final assault on the last strongholds of the Red Khmer Army in the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh. Pol Pot and his government managed to escape in the last minutes in two helicopters. two bad, approaching Vietnamese MIG-21 fighter jets came minutes too late, failing to shoot them down.

http://www.business-standard.com/ar...hmer-rouge-on-victory-day-117010700297_1.html

I think we did the right thing, although the international community condemned and imposed hard sanctions on Vietnam back in the days. plus suffering under China invasion. at least we have someone like Hun Sen, the Prime Minister of Cambodia, who expresses gratitude remembering of our scarifies.

“This is the first time in the history of more than 500 years, after the prosperous time of Angkor, that Cambodia has realised full peace and national and territorial unity, as well as lived in harmony under one constitution. January 7 is the second life of all Cambodian people in Cambodia, living again from the Khmer Rouge regime... (It) gave life and freedom to the people".

 

[Silent Knight]

sounds nice. Sazhen-TA mobile system can monitor missile flight path up to a distance of 1,000 km away. perfect for our ballistic land attack missiles such as EXTRA and others

* cough * SRBM *cough *

 

[Viet]

Brothers-in-Arms: Vietnam Ramps Up Its Defense Potential With Russian Help
RUSSIA 15:03 10.01.2017 (updated 15:05 10.01.2017)

Vietnam now ranks seventeenth in the complete Global Firepower (GFP) list and second in Southeast Asia after Indonesia, thanks much to modern arms supplies from Russia.

© SPUTNIK/ RAMIL SITDIKOV Russia's T-90 Battle Tank Interests Vietnam Because It's 'More Modern' Than Rivals


The Global Firepower (GFP) list puts the military powers of the world into full perspective depending on their defense outlays, air and naval might, number and quality of Air Force bases and seaports, etc.

Commenting on the information contained in the Global Firepower 2016 report, AEC News Today wrote that with its history of victorious wars fought against France, the US and China, Vietnam possesses a military force to reckon with.

In an interview with Sputnik Vietnam, former Deputy Defense Minister, Col. Gen. Nguyen Van Duoc said that his country owned much of its military potential to the assistance it once received from the Soviet Union and the weapons now being supplied it by the Russian Federation. “We have the very same feelings of love and respect for Russia that we once had for the Soviet Union. Our military-technical cooperation is expanding all the time with Russia providing us with everything we need: tanks, warplanes, naval ships, submarines and air-defense systems. Much of what they have in the Russian Army we now also have here in Vietnam,” he said.

Meanwhile, a Kilo-class Russian diesel-electric submarine, armed with Kalibr missiles, the last of the six such vessels ordered by Hanoi, is on the way to Vietnam. These submarines are extremely silent and are very aptly called “black holes” by Western military specialists. A second pair of Gepard-class frigates is now in the final stages of their trials in the Black Sea and will soon be handed over to the Vietnamese Navy, in addition to as many supplied earlier.

The Soviet Union started supplying North Vietnam with firearms and anti-aircraft systems back in the early 1950s. In 1954 Soviet Katyusha multiple rocket launchers helped the North Vietnamese forces win the Battle of Dien Bien Phu — the final battle of the First Indochina War. During the 1960s and 1970s, Soviet missiles and warplanes shot down an estimated 1,700 US military aircraft and it was Soviet tanks that rammed the gates of the Doc Lap presidential palace in Saigon on April 1975, the day when the North Vietnamese Army took the capital of South Vietnam.

In recent years Russia and Vietnam have signed a raft of arms-delivery contracts worth over 4.5 billion dollars. The list of Russian military supplies to Vietnam include Tor, Buk and S-300 air defense systems and the sides are currently negotiating the supply of the state-of-the-art S-400 missile systems.

Read more: https://sputniknews.com/russia/201701101049432881-russia-vietnam-arms/

 

[Carlosa]

Why Vietnam Has Turned Its Strategic Attention to the Sea
http://thediplomat.com/2017/01/why-vietnam-has-turned-its-strategic-attention-to-the-sea/

Vietnam has shifted its strategic attention to the sea, but what can it hope to accomplish against China’s array of aircraft and warships? In a recent Naval War College Review article, Wu Shang-su, research fellow at Nanyang Technological University, examined why Vietnam has turned to the sea, how it has decided to approach defense against China, and what it might do in the future.

Vietnam began to shift its strategic attention to the sea in the years following the Sino-Vietnam War. The inconclusive nature of that war, combined with a relatively amicable process of border delineation with China, convinced Hanoi that China would no longer pose a critical threat from the land. The People’s Army of Vietnam (VPA) held presumptive superiority over the armed forces of Laos and, following withdrawal, Cambodia, making those borders relatively safe, as well.

At the same time, Vietnam’s economic strategy developed in two directions that made a maritime focus appealing. First, Vietnam began to integrate itself more heavily into the global economy, making access to shipping a critical need. Second, Vietnam became increasingly interested in exploiting offshore resources, which required the defense of islands and other geographic features in the South China Sea.

This shift to the sea came as Beijing began the massive military buildup that continues to this day. At the extreme, China could attempt a full blockade against Vietnamese ports, but more likely any conflict would involve fights over island outposts. With an economy a small fraction of its northern neighbor’s, and a small defense industry, Vietnam’s options were limited. However, Hanoi borrowed pages from Soviet (and Chinese) Cold War maritime strategy, focusing on capabilities that could deny the sea to the Chinese, or at least deter China by threatening serious damage to the PLAN.

Vietnam has the weapons necessary to destroy Chinese aircraft and warships. Air-, sea-, and land-launched missiles can inflict grievous damage on major PLAN assets, just as long-range SAMs can threaten the PLAAF’s most expensive warplanes. The problem is that Vietnam lacks the surveillance assets necessary to deliver good targeting data to its long-range weapon systems. The Vietnamese military has limited access to satellites, a shortage of patrol aircraft, and a dearth of advanced, long-range sensors. This makes it very difficult for the Vietnamese military to identify, target, and destroy Chinese ships and planes.

Dr. Wu also suggested that Vietnam’s dependence on Russian weaponry could hamper the effectiveness of its resistance efforts. Most of Vietnam’s most advanced weapons, including late model Flanker variants, Kilo submarines, and S-300 air defense systems, come from Russia. Unfortunately, China has in most cases acquired exactly the same systems from Russia, and often has more familiarity with them. This familiarity undercuts some of the advantages that the Vietnamese might derive from these systems.

Together, these concerns lead in the same direction: the diversification of Vietnamese military procurement, with a focus on reconnaissance technology. Vietnam has already reached out to India, the Netherlands, and most recently to the United States in order to meet these needs. However, whether Vietnam can make the long-term commitment to increased spending in order to deter China remains in question.

 

[Viet]

On his trip to close allies and friends in the Pacific, Japan government chief Shinzo Abe will pay a visit to Hanoi for political talks before the new U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Perfect, we will have a chance to question Mr Abe, why his government has just approved the largest ever military budget since end of world war II

 

[Viet]

* cough * SRBM *cough *

we should call our SRBM as peacemaker

Today I went to a public library and photographed the article with the PLA man Yue Gang.

 

[Silent Knight]

we should call our SRBM as peacemaker

Many thanks, my friend.

I'd see if I can read German now.

 

[Viet]

Many thanks, my friend.

I'd see if I can read German now.

I can translate the whole article if you like, let me know. almost are chinese propaganda, can be ignored, the most two important statements of our PLA friend Yue Gang are in the second and third images I posted:

"Die größte Bedrohung geht derzeit von Vietnam aus."
Vietnam now poses the biggest threat.

"Vietnam ist bis an die Zähne bewaffnet."
Vietnam is armed to the teeth.

 

[Viet]

John Kerry to visit Vietnam in last move of Obama "Pivot to Asia"
by Michael Peel in Bangkok
https://www.ft.com/content/5a749c66-d881-11e6-944b-e7eb37a6aa8e

Cam Ranh Bay port has emerged as strategic focus in region of disputed seas


John Kerry is to bring down the curtain on the Obama administration’s pivot to Asia with a trip to Vietnam, a country at the heart of the international security struggle over the region’s seas. The deepwater port in Cam Ranh Bay, which has served as a base for Russia, Japan and the US during a storied history, has emerged once again as part of a strategic scramble between great powers.

The visit by the outgoing US secretary of state, a Vietnam war veteran, is a last nod to a history of conflict that Washington has sought to overcome as it has wooed Southeast Asian states on security, trade and counter-terrorism. Analysts are seeking clues on whether Donald Trump’s White House will shift the US approach to the region — and to Beijing’s territorial claims in the South and East China Seas.

Jonathan London, a Vietnam specialist and academic at Leiden University in the Netherlands, said the visit would be a “momentous one, substantively, symbolically, and personally”. “While the pivot to Asia has been regarded as a failure, one of its undeniable and potentially enduring achievements has been precisely the development of warmer ties between Washington and Hanoi — to a point where the former adversaries came to regard each other as indispensable, if at times awkward, strategic partners,” he said.

Mr Kerry was due to arrive in Hanoi late on Thursday and to meet Nguyen Xuan Phuc, prime minister, and Bui Thanh Son, acting foreign minister, on Friday. He is scheduled to make a trip to Ca Mau province in the Mekong delta, where he fought during the war in a US Swift gunboat unit — a deployment that won him decorations but became a subject of dispute during his losing 2004 election campaign against President George W Bush. Mr Kerry, who campaigned against the war after his return to the US, played a big part in the Obama administration’s efforts to improve relations with Hanoi. The president visited Vietnam last year and announced an end to the 50-year-old US arms embargo.

Tillerson sets stage for clash with Beijing over South China Sea Trump nominee for top US diplomat threatens end of Chinese access to artificial islands The strategic facility at Cam Ranh Bay has become a focus of growing attention. It lies a few hundred kilometres from disputed island groups that are part of Beijing’s claims to most of the South China Sea. Vietnam has spent heavily upgrading the port, which was used by the imperial Russian navy in the early 20th century, Japanese ships during the second world war and US vessels in the fight to prop up the South Vietnam regime during the civil war of the 1960s and 1970s. The port was leased to the Soviet Union and Russia after communist North Vietnam’s victory in 1975.

In October, the destroyer John S McCain and submarine tender Frank Cable became the first commissioned US naval vessels to moor at Cam Ranh Bay since the Vietnam war. Chinese and Japanese vessels also visited the port last year.

While the pivot to Asia has been regarded as a failure, one of its undeniable and potentially enduring achievements has been precisely the development of warmer ties between Washington and Hanoi Some analysts say Vietnam and the US have a strategic interest in even deeper security co-operation despite a history that still weighs on the relationship. The Trump administration’s foreign policy goals in Asia remain unclear, although Rex Tillerson, the president-elect’s nominee for secretary of state, set the stage this week for a possible diplomatic clash with Beijing when he said China should be denied access to islands it has built in the South China Sea.

Le Hong Hiep, a research fellow at Singapore’s Iseas Yusof Ishak Institute think-tank, said: “The US is likely to maintain its rebalancing to Asia, and Vietnam will remain one of its key security partners in the region. However, Vietnam is somewhat uncertain about this prospect, and wants to hedge its bets by continuing to expand ties with other major powers and stabilising its relations with China.” Nguyen Phu Trong, the powerful general secretary of Vietnam’s ruling Communist party, is due to go to China at the same time as Mr Kerry’s visit, according to Chinese media. Vietnam has also made efforts to deepen its co-operation with other countries including India and Japan, whose prime minister, Shinzo Abe, is due in Hanoi next week.

 

[Viet]

January 11. Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Mishel Ben Baruch, Director of Israeli military complex SIBAT pays a visit to the Army´s Headquarters. besides seeking military co-operations, he announces Israeli State President Reunen Rivlin will come in March. I think we both should cooperate closer, sharing experiences on traditional and modern warfare. both Vietnam and Israel have one thing in common: small landmass with few people, having formidable army, surrounded by hostile neighbours. though I don´t think we start copying the Jews bombing enemy targets like they do now in Syria

http://www.janes.com/article/66888/vietnam-israel-pledge-to-expand-defence-ties

 

[TenLua]

January 11. Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Mishel Ben Baruch, Director of Israeli military complex SIBAT pays a visit to the Army´s Headquarters. besides seeking military co-operations, he announces Israeli State President Reunen Rivlin will come in March. I think we both should cooperate closer, sharing experiences on traditional and modern warfare. both Vietnam and Israel have one thing in common: small landmass with few people, having formidable army, surrounded by hostile neighbours. though I don´t think we start copying the Jews bombing enemy targets like they do now in Syria

http://www.janes.com/article/66888/vietnam-israel-pledge-to-expand-defence-ties

Vietnam do not bomb people, especially civilians unprovoked. Cosmetic commonality does not equate to moral likeness. The real Jews are against the terrorist state of Isreal. Isreal is responsible, through their cia equivalent mossad, for the assassination of some of the greatest minds of this century. Vietnam should distant itself from the abomination that is Isreal.

 

[hoangsa74]

January 11. Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Mishel Ben Baruch, Director of Israeli military complex SIBAT pays a visit to the Army´s Headquarters. besides seeking military co-operations, he announces Israeli State President Reunen Rivlin will come in March. I think we both should cooperate closer, sharing experiences on traditional and modern warfare. both Vietnam and Israel have one thing in common: small landmass with few people, having formidable army, surrounded by hostile neighbours. though I don´t think we start copying the Jews bombing enemy targets like they do now in Syria

http://www.janes.com/article/66888/vietnam-israel-pledge-to-expand-defence-ties

The director of Israel military complex and President coming to Vietnam then they must be working on some deal. Vietnam has benefited tremendously by working with Israel. Look no further than Vietnam's agriculture sector; Israel has provided big help to Vietnam in that regard. Both china and india also benefit tremendously by working with Israel. Vietnam is taking a good step by establishing a good relationship with this jewish state.