Vietnam Defence Forum

[Carlosa]

Do you plan of invading these countries? With only 1000 tanks?

No plan to invade anybody, they are all friendly countries, there is only one country in the region that is into invading and imperialistic expansion, but if we are going to consider what it would take:

1000 tanks is more than enough for that.
100 tanks would be enough to take care of Laos.
200 or 300 tanks would be enough to take care of Cambodia.
Thailand? No worries, as soon as they see the Viet flag, they'll run in the opposite direction as fast as they can, Thais don't have stomach for fighting.
China? RPG-29 is more than enough to take care of all their tanks including the type 99.

 

[+4vsgorillas-Apebane]

No plan to invade anybody, they are all friendly countries, there is only one country in the region that is into invading and imperialistic expansion, but if we are going to consider what it would take:

1000 tanks is more than enough for that.
100 tanks would be enough to take care of Laos.
200 or 300 tanks would be enough to take care of Cambodia.
Thailand? No worries, as soon as they see the Viet flag, they'll run in the opposite direction as fast as they can, Thais don't have stomach for fighting.
China? RPG-29 is more than enough to take care of all their tanks including the type 99.

So you will invade China with no tanks, just rpgs?

 

[Viet]

In training:

High-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rounds for the 2A46M 125mm gun...and as everybody knows T-90 has 125mm main gun

 

[Carlosa]

So you will invade China with no tanks, just rpgs?

Nobody plans to invade china, china will do the invading and in that case the RPG-29 is enough to take care of their tanks.

 

[Viet]

Do you plan of invading these countries? With only 1000 tanks?

No, unless we are forced to do so. We are brave but not dumb.

Tank is an offensive weapon. We can assume chinese tanks won´t stop at Sino-Viet border and vice versa, in case a war breaks out. I suggest you to read Vietnamese incursions into China to stop artillery fires from the PLA in the last war of 1979.

We need advanced tanks that can operate in potential theaters.

 

[hurt]

In training:

High-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rounds for the 2A46M 125mm gun...and as everybody knows T-90 has 125mm main gun

maybe T-55M6

 

[Viet]

unlikely
the upgraded version of T-55 is called T-55M3 and has a Israel-made 105mm gun.

Vietnamese armed forces modernize its fleet of main battle tanks T-55 to standard T 54/55M3 2503124 - Army Recognition

 

[Carlosa]

unlikely
the upgraded version of T-55 is called T-55M3 and has a Israel-made 105mm gun.

That munition can only be for a T-90 or T-72, but VN does not operate T-72 so............

 

[Viet]

Navy

a Molniya corvette with Kh-35E (Uran) antiship missiles, range of 130km.
next vessels will carry the advanced version with extended range of 260km.

1 or 2 of this Uran can sink an enemy vessel of up to 5,000 tons.

 

[tbquestion]

No plan to invade anybody, they are all friendly countries, there is only one country in the region that is into invading and imperialistic expansion, but if we are going to consider what it would take:

1000 tanks is more than enough for that.
100 tanks would be enough to take care of Laos.
200 or 300 tanks would be enough to take care of Cambodia.
Thailand? No worries, as soon as they see the Viet flag, they'll run in the opposite direction as fast as they can, Thais don't have stomach for fighting.
China? RPG-29 is more than enough to take care of all their tanks including the type 99.

T-72 could'nt damage a type 99 at point blank firing during test, but a RPG-29 could????

 

[Carlosa]

T-72 could'nt damage a type 99 at point blank firing during test, but a RPG-29 could????

Correct, according to the testing done with the dual tandem warhead of the RPG-29, most shots destroyed all tanks tested including the T-90.

 

[Nike]

You are right, second hand tanks would be a good alternative if they are available, but I think the weight would be a big issue for Vietnam.

What's the ongoing price for a second hand Leopard ll by the way? Is Germany still selling them?

still, recently they selling their inventory stock with upgrade package such as Revolution and Evolution. Spain and Switzerlands too, they are looking for potential customer for their old Leo 2A4 vanilla versions. Israel too, they are wanna to sell their advanced weapons for cash amid recent backlash in economic situation in Israel right now.

one thing must be noted, if Vietnam suddenly procure an advance MBT such as Leo2 or Merkava i think they will doing great in urban warfare or to halting the advance of enemy armored columns and supporting infantry units around them. And such operations doesn't need extensive supporting unit for their movement in rural areas of Vietnam. They will do great to holding positions or lines until reinforcement came. The ongoing price is vary according to upgrading specification do you want, but vanilla version is around 600.000 US dollar to 800.000 US dollar, Revo variant is around 2,4 millions bucks to 3,2 millions bucks.

It must be great if Vietnam follow the India steps to procure at least two type of advanced MBT (Arjun and T-90 Bhisma) with different characteristics to cope any potential scenario in warfare.

 

[Viet]

Correct, according to the testing done with the dual tandem warhead of the RPG-29, most shots destroyed all tanks tested including the T-90.

2 warheads in a grenade?

 

[Carlosa]

2 warheads in a grenade?

Correct, the first warhead destroys the outer layer of the armor, the "ERA" explosive reactive armor, that opens the way to the second warhead which is the one that penetrates into the tank. Lethal combination, all tanks tested were destroyed. Some of the tanks tested are the T-90, T-72, T-80, M-1 Abrams, etc.

The RPG-29 was also tested against tanks together with the Kornet Russian antitank missile (which has a pretty good reputation) and sure enough, the RPG-29 was the winner. The Kornet could not penetrate some tanks, but the RPG-29 did its job with flying colors every time.

A British Challenger ll tank was penetrated in Iraq by a RPG-29 munition (see the picture below).

In May 2008 The New York Times disclosed that an American M-1A1 Abrams tank had been penetrated by an RPG-29 in Iraq. The US Army ranks the RPG-29 threat to armor so high that they refused to allow the newly formed Iraqi army to buy it, fearing it would fall into insurgent hands.

That's why I said, Chinese tanks type-99 / 89, etc, no problem, bring them on, Vietnamese infantrymen with RPG-29's will ambush them and send them to the recycling center for junk metal.

 

[Carlosa]

still, recently they selling their inventory stock with upgrade package such as Revolution and Evolution. Spain and Switzerlands too, they are looking for potential customer for their old Leo 2A4 vanilla versions. Israel too, they are wanna to sell their advanced weapons for cash amid recent backlash in economic situation in Israel right now.

one thing must be noted, if Vietnam suddenly procure an advance MBT such as Leo2 or Merkava i think they will doing great in urban warfare or to halting the advance of enemy armored columns and supporting infantry units around them. And such operations doesn't need extensive supporting unit for their movement in rural areas of Vietnam. They will do great to holding positions or lines until reinforcement came. The ongoing price is vary according to upgrading specification do you want, but vanilla version is around 600.000 US dollar to 800.000 US dollar, Revo variant is around 2,4 millions bucks to 3,2 millions bucks.

It must be great if Vietnam follow the India steps to procure at least two type of advanced MBT (Arjun and T-90 Bhisma) with different characteristics to cope any potential scenario in warfare.

Nice information, thank you. Leopard ll tanks at $600.000 to $800.000 is a bargain, Vietnam spent $935.00 to upgrade each of the T-54 / 55 to the M3 standard. Some food for thought here.