Vietnam Defence Forum

[Barmaley]

Interesting. After years of rumours. Do you know how many trucks? Is it Haiphong sea port?

No additional information . Maybe later.

 

[Carlosa]

The US just turned up the heat in the South China Sea with 2 aircraft carriers and B-52s

• David Cenciotti, The Aviationist
• 
  
• Some interesting photographs have been arriving from the troubled waters of Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

• The most recent ones, released on Jun. 18, show the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) and USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) carrier strike groups (CSG 3 and CSG 5) cruising close each other during dual carrier flight operations in the Philippine Sea.
  
  Such operations included air combat training, long-range strike training, air defense drills as well as sea surveillance.
  
  The CSG 3, that started operations in the Western Pacific on Feb. 4, consists of the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG 53) and guided-missile destroyers of Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 21, USS Stockdale (DDG 106), USS Chung-Hoon (DDG 93) and USS William P. Lawrence (DDG 110), and the aircraft of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9.
  
  CSG 5, begun its summer patrol of the Indo-Asia Pacific, on Jun. 4, and consists of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), guided-missile cruisers USS Shiloh (CG 67) and USS Chancellorsville (CG 62) and guided-missile destroyers from Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 15, USS Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54), USS McCampbell (DDG 85), USS Benfold (DDG 65); the aircraft of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, is forward-deployed to Yokosuka, Japan and routinely, patrols the Western Pacific.
  
  According to the US Navy, the CSGs (Carrier Strike Groups) began coordinated operations in international waters to demonstrate "the United States unique capability to operate multiple carrier strike groups in close proximity."
  
  US Navy aircraft carriers regularly conduct dual carrier strike group operations in the Western Pacific and sometimes also in the South China Sea, East China Sea and Philippine Sea: this occurs when carriers deployed to the 7th Fleet area of operations from the US West Coast are joined with the forward deployed carrier strike group from Japan. When it happens a force of 12,000 sailors, 140 aircraft, six combatants and two carriers operates in the same sea: an impressive "show of force."
  
  
  
  
  Two carriers cruise in the South China Sea. The Aviationist via US Navy
  
  Previously, in Sept. 2012, USS George Washington (CVN 73) and USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) strike groups conducted combined operation in the South China Sea and East China Sea. In 2001, USS Constellation (CV 64) and Carl Vinson operated together in the South China Sea.
  
  A few days before the two carriers started combined operations, a joint service bombing exercise at the targeting island Farallon de Medinilla, an uninhabited small island in the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean located 45 nautical miles north of Saipan, saw two US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers launched from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam,fly over USS Spruance (DDG 111) in a maritime attack training sortie.
  
  Along with the two carrier strike groups and the B-52 providing extended deterrence, Washington has also deployed to the Philippines the first temporary detachment of Navy EA-18G Growlers.
  
  The electronic attack aircraft have arrived at Clark Air Base, on Jun. 15. Even though they are officially there to train with the local FA-50, the detachment, made of 4 aircraft and 120 personnel with the Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 138, "will support routine operations that enhance regional maritime domain awareness and assure access to the air and maritime domains in accordance with international law."
  
  Therefore, the strategical deployment brought not far from the disputed waters in the South China Sea some cutting-edge aircraft capable to perform electronic escort missions on both US ships and spyplanes that are frequently shadowed by Chinese spyplanes or intelligence gathering ships. Furthermore, the Growlers could jam, if needed, the Chinese radars on the Spratly, Paracel, Pratas and the rest of the islands, including those that have been artificially created, decreasing Beijing ability to establish an ADIZ (Air Defense Identification Zone)similar to that in the East China Sea and to support its warplanes in the area.
  
  
  
  
  The Aviationist via US Navy
  
  The presence of (some more…) EA-18Gs could theoretically limit the operations of the Chinese Air Force (PLAAF) and Navy (PLANAF) that, according to "Flashpoint China: Chinese air power and regional security" published by Harpia Publishing and written by Andreas Rupprecht, one of the most authoritative sources on Chinese Air Power, "are able to ensure virtually continuos, round-the-clock aerial coverage and combat air patrols over the area during a crisis or a conflict."
  
  In particular, the PLANAF is pretty active in the area with a regiment each of H-6 bombers and JH-7 fighter-bombers and no fewer than three regiments of J-11 interceptors covering the South China Sea . "The availability of long-range J-11s and aerial refueling assets implies that much of the SCS [South China Sea] is now de-facto Chinese airspace," says Rupprecht.
  
  It's not a coincidence that a recent close encounter in the area involved few weeks ago two Chinese J-11 tactical aircraft that carried out an "unsafe" intercept of a US EP-3E reconnaissance aircraft on a routine mission in international airspace over the South China Sea.
  
  The Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 138 is an expeditionary squadron based at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Washington, that has previously taken part in deployments across the region. The Growler detachment comes after a first temporary Air Contingent made of five A-10C Thunderbolt aircraft, three HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopters and approximately 200 personnel deployed from multiple Pacific Air Forces units that took part in exercise Balikatan and completed their final mission on April 28, 2016.
  
  

 

[Carlosa]

Interesting. After years of rumours. Do you know how many trucks? Is it Haiphong sea port?


just looking up the specs of Kzkt-7428. it can carry a load of 70 tons, range of 700 km, top Speed 65 kmh. good enough for a T-90 or a howitzer. our panzer corps need a lot of these transporters, just inducting one or two panzer divisions.

@Carlosa

There is a T-90MS smell in the air............

 

[GS Zhou]

just inducting one or two panzer divisions

Do you know how costly your idea could be?

T90 MBT is about 4.5 million USD per unit. Assume a tank division has 250 MBTs and all of them replaced by T90 MBT, that means 1.1 billion USD in total (other supporting vehicles are not counted in yet).

According to SIPRI, Vietnam spent 870 million USD on weapons imports in 2015. Assume ground forces could get 25% of the budget (compared to Navy and Air forces, the priority of ground forces must be much lower), so ground force owns 220 million USD budget. Assume MBTs upgrade is the most important project to army, and 50% of the army budget goes to this program. So 110 million USD saved a year, which means the VPA army needs ten years to have the money for one division tanks. Considering the investment on other supporting vehicles, the time required would be even longer.

In fact, modern MBT is even a big burden to PLA. That's why Type 59 MBTs are still seen today.

 

[Viet]

Do you know how costly your idea could be?

T90 MBT is about 4.5 million USD per unit. Assume a tank division has 250 MBTs and all of them replaced by T90 MBT, that means 1.1 billion USD in total (other supporting vehicles are not counted in yet).

According to SIPRI, Vietnam spent 870 million USD on weapons imports in 2015. Assume ground forces could get 25% of the budget (compared to Navy and Air forces, the priority of ground forces must be much lower), so ground force owns 220 million USD budget. Assume MBTs upgrade is the most important project to army, and 50% of the army budget goes to this program. So 110 million USD saved a year, which means the VPA army needs ten years to have the money for one division tanks. Considering the investment on other supporting vehicles, the time required would be even longer.

In fact, modern MBT is even a big burden to PLA. That's why Type 59 MBTs are still seen today.

you overlook one thing: besides getting money from the official budget, the army earns money from companies they control and own, for example Viettel. the company makes $2 billions gross profit out of a revenue of $11 billion in 2015. so one tank here one tank there can be bought. sure, nevertheless we only have $5 billions for defence, nothing if compared to your $215 billions a year

 

[BoQ77]

Vietnam gave the nuclear energy plant project to Russia, and get the return of military assets alongside with plant too.

 

[vtnsx]

Dirty money. Dirty history. South Korean economic rise was largely thanked to the money she received from the United States because of her participation of the Vietnam war. the longer the war the more South Korea received the US Dollars. she was the one who promoted aggression. do we need an apology? the Koreans are similar to the Japanese, they rather commit suicide than regret anything. different country different culture. Anyway I don´t think we need a sorry, not only because it is up to them if they want to apologize, but it does not bring the deaths to life. if they want they can increase trades and investments to Vietnam.



When Will President Park Apologize to The Vietnamese People?
By Sara Williams June 9, 2016

South Korea was the second only to the United States as the largest foreign military contingent in Vietnam during the 1960’s war.

(Newswire.net -- June 9, 2016) -- The first step to apologizing is to admit to one’s actions and take responsibility for them. President Park has still to do so for her country’s past actions in foreign wars.


Retracing history, South Korea led by strongman President Park Chung-hee, the sitting president’s father, sent over 320,000 soldiers to fight in the Vietnam War. They came from the ROK Army and ROK Marine Corps. The first troops arrived in 1964 and for nine years until 1973, they inflicted all sorts of brutality on the Vietnamese. Among the US allies, South Korea was the largest military contingent in Vietnam, second only to the United States Forces. The official line for helping the US was to repay them for defending South Korea in the Korean War and to solidify military alliance between the two countries.

Now it can be told that financial incentives were also a key consideration for Park to send his troops to Vietnam. It is said he even campaigned hard for the war to continue. The Johnson and Nixon administration gave over tens of billions of dollars for the soldiers but all the money was coursed through Park. Most of it was used to realize the dictator’s ambitious economic development program. Hence, from being one of the poorest countries in the 1950s, the Republic of Korea experienced rapid growth in its economy starting in the 1960s.

When the South Korean military were in Vietnam, they were given carte blanche to do as they wished. The only goal was to vanquish the enemy. And they did so, in the most inhumane of methods. The “enemy” for them was anyone Vietnam. Unarmed men, helpless women and children, and the elderly were not spared. Their stories were only revealed forty years after the war ended, when a Korean graduate student studying in a university in Hanoi became curious about the accounts she heard and started digging them up. The untold tales of massacres of entire villages were finally revealed in her articles that saw publication in a weekly newsmagazine.

Shocked and disgusted that her fellow countrymen were capable of such despicable acts, she got help in putting up the Korean-Vietnamese Peace Foundation with the aim of fostering healing of the Vietnam people survivors of war and establishing a peaceful coexistence among other people.

The stories of the Vietnam comfort women came later. It seems the Korean soldiers were not content with killing the weak and defenseless. They assaulted and raped thousands of the women, then left them with their children. Born of mixed blood, the children are called Lai Dai Han and live in the margins of society, scorned and ridiculed.

Statesmen and civic groups are asking for an apology for the Vietnam victims. But Park Geun-hye chooses to be silent, not admitting to the crimes perpetrated during her father’s regime. In the domestic arena, he was already ruthless on his opponents. In the Vietnam War, he condoned the acts of his soldiers because it is not possible for him to be unaware of what was going on. His daughter, an ultra-conservative, is bent on protecting the country’s integrity and her own father’s name.

In Vietnam on a state visit in 2013, Park laid flowers on the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, the North Vietnam president and chairman of the Communist Party. But nary a word was said about the war. In 2001, when President Kim Dae-jung apologized to Vietnam for the acts of his people, Park criticized him for bringing shame to South Korea.

Behind the scenes, she is pushing for the government to take charge of the production of history books for schools. There are fears that it will be revised to put Park Chung-hee in a better light. In her autobiography, she wrote “The slander against my father continued, and I couldn’t just stand by and watch. As I saw it, my father had no personal ambition other than for his country, the Republic of Korea.”

The latest insensitivity shown by Ms. Park is her praise of the Korean TV series “Descendants of the Sun,” set in a war-torn country where a Korean officer falls in love with a doctor with a peacekeeping mission. There have been debates over whether it will bother Vietnam people because it will bring back memories of the war. But Park is encouraging its showing in other countries to promote tourism.

Pres. Park always puts her own interests first. In 1960, her father received $800 million from Japan in the form of soft loans, grants and trusts. Last December, she was able to obtain another apology from Japan for the Korean comfort women and an $8.3 million payment for the victims. But she is her father’s daughter and it will be surprising if she acknowledges the sins of her country and apologize to the Vietnam people. Still, stranger things have happened.

Source: http://newswire.net/newsroom/oped/00092876-when-will-president-park-apologize-to-the-vietnamese-people.html

Apologies or not. The countries are not unite as North and South combined into one nation. They are still fked. We don't need their cowardly apology. We just need to get stronger. We will make them pay.

 

[cnleio]

Vietnam Airforce Su-30mk2

 

[Viet]

Soha has sometimes nice images, I admit. Posting here some of a recent exercise of a combined infantry unit, with tanks, artillery, troop transporters.

 

[cnleio]

Soha has sometimes nice images, I admit. Posting here some of a recent exercise of a combined infantry unit, with tanks, artillery, troop transporters.

If im right, this is the China 1st Auto truck in Vietnam Army ???

 

[Viet]

If im right, this is the China 1st Auto truck in Vietnam Army ???
View attachment 312556

maybe yes, maybe no, I´m not sure. but if the trucks are China made, they must be pretty old, and you will admit, Vietnam is a master in maintaining things until they fall apart, becoming dust. have you seen VPA´s T-34 tanks, still in service today, which were engaged in the final battle of Berlin in 1945?

T-34 in the Vietnam war. 35 tons, armed with a 85mm main gun which could fire either armor-piercing or high-explosive rounds, top speed of 33mph. in Addition, 1 x 7.62mm, 1 x 12.7mm machine gun, T-54/55-type road wheels, 10RT Radio.

 

[cnleio]

maybe yes, maybe no, I´m not sure. but if the trucks are China made, they must be pretty old, and you will admit, Vietnam is a master in maintaining things until they fall apart, becoming dust. have you seen VPA´s T-34 tanks, still in service today, which were engaged in the final battle of Berlin in 1945?

T-34 in the Vietnam war. 35 tons, armed with a 85mm main gun which could fire either armor-piercing or high-explosive rounds, top speed of 33mph. in Addition, 1 x 7.62mm, 1 x 12.7mm machine gun, T-54/55-type road wheels, 10RT Radio.

Those trucks not old, my friend. Coz the 1st Auto (FAW Group Corporation) brand in photo is the new changed brand since 2009 ... the older FAW brand is just "1" or "解放" truck, not like today "1" add Wings.

FAW Automotive
http://www.faw.com/

 

[Viet]

Those trucks not old, my friend. Coz the 1st Auto (FAW Group Corporation) brand in photo is the new changed brand since 2009 ... the older FAW brand is just "1" or "解放" truck, not like today "1" add Wings.

FAW Automotive
http://www.faw.com/

Amazing. That means you mustn't shoot at made in China trucks should it come to a blow?

 

[Genesis]

Amazing. That means you mustn't shoot at made in China trucks should it come to a blow?

If we don't shoot at our own equipment it means we are not a great power. All great powers are proud sponsors of their enemies. I mean how many equipments did ISIS use against Russia, did Saddam use against the US, how many did Argentina use against the Brits/NATO.

I be very disappointed if China isn't shooting at Chinese equipment.

 

[Carlosa]

Body found in search for missing Coast Guard plane in Vietnam

Thanh Nien News

Thursday, June 23, 2016 15:22

Rescuers have found a body this morning during the search for a missing aircraft in Vietnam's East Sea.
They are identifying the body to see if that was one of the nine crew members of the Coast Guard's CASA 212 plane, which crashed into the sea on Jun. 16 during yet another search and rescue mission.

The rescue operation command said they believe the crashed plane is at a depth of 50-60 meters, about 15 nautical miles southeast of Bach Long Vi Island in the Tonkin Gulf.

They located an engine of the plane at a depth of 60 meters in the area this morning.
Lt. Gen Phan Van Gian, the army's Chief of Staff, said divers are trying to recover the engine.
Rescue teams have found debris of the plane after it went missing but have not been able to locate either its black boxes or the crew members.

Vietnam bought three CASA 212 planes for its Coast Guard from Airbus Military in Spain between 2012 and 2013.

Crew members onboard an airplane searching for the missing aircraft in Vietnam's East Sea. Photo: Duy Khanh

Airbus has offered technical assistance in investigating the cause of the crash, the Vietnamese transport ministry said on June 22.

Series of mishaps
The turboprop plane is believed to have crashed into the sea in bad weather when it was searching for a pilot of an Air Force fighter aircraft that went down in the area on Jun. 14.
Both pilots of the Sukhoi Su-330 MK2 managed to eject. One of them was rescue a day after and the body of the other was found on June 17.

Searches are ongoing for both planes at the same time.
The latest incidents follows a series of mishaps that hit Vietnam's military in the past two years.

Two Soviet-era Su-22 fighter aircraft of the Vietnamese air force crashed into the East Sea during a training mission in April 2015. Both pilots died in the crash.
Two earlier crashes, which involved a Russian Mi-171 and US-built UH-1, killed 24 people.