Su-30 of the Vietnamese Air Force landed
On China's online forums, not only "Japanese blowers", "American blowers" and "Yinchuichuan" are active, but also "Russian blowers" and "Yue blowers" are active. Seeing this, everyone must be surprised: there is still "Yue Chu". Isn't Vietnam's military strength very weak? In fact, the Vietnamese army is neither as weak as netizens say, nor as strong as Yue boasts. Next, Xiao Sheng will use the Vietnamese Air Force as an example to talk with everyone. As a high-tech and high-value service, the Air Force can best reflect a country's overall military strength, and the Vietnam Air Force, as one of Vietnam's most important defense forces, has always attracted much attention and attention. (Some people may ask questions here: Why not the navy? Because not all countries are coastal countries, but every country has airspace, so the air force, which is more difficult to build than the army, is the most representative.)
Fighters of the Vietnam Air Force
The predecessor of the Vietnam Air Force can be traced back to the "Vietnam Air Force Bureau" in the late 1950s. The two military agencies "Air Defense Command" and "Air Defense Command" merged to form the "Air Defense-Air Force" with integrated air defense. However, in June 1976, the Vietnamese government, which had been learning from the Soviet Union in building its air force, re-split the "air defense-air force" into two independent services: the air force and the air defense force. The aviation force was naturally under the jurisdiction of the air force, while the ground high-defense The artillery, surface-to-air missile and radar units belong to the Air Defense Force (the two services were merged again into the "Air Force" on July 14, 1999). After the Gulf War broke out in 1991, Vietnam also realized the importance of building a modern air force. At that time, the Vietnamese Air Force was only equipped with hundreds of backward second-generation aircraft or even first-generation aircraft, and had no chance of winning. As a result, Vietnam turned its attention to Russia for replacement and purchased many heavy-duty third-generation aircraft in batches.
Pilots of the Vietnamese Air Force
So, what is the size and strength of the Vietnamese Air Force today, and where does it rank in Southeast Asia? The current situation of the Vietnam Air Force is still in a "relatively backward state" with second-generation aircraft as the main body and a few third-generation fighter jets. However, it is a powerful presence in Southeast Asia (can be among the top three) and has certain offensive capabilities (of course It is incomparable with its "big neighbor" to the north).
The Su-27 fighter jets of the Vietnamese Air Force
According to incomplete statistics, the Vietnamese Air Force is currently equipped with nearly 480 aircraft of various types, half of which are combat aircraft, such as 124 MiG-21 "Bis", 40 MiG-23M, 12 Su-27SK (including 5 Su-27UBK two-seat trainer version), 35 Su-30MK2V (originally 36, one crashed during training in 2016), and 53 old Old Su-22 fighter-bombers and 10 second-hand L-39C jet trainers. As for the transport aircraft force, the Vietnam Air Force only operates 12 An-2 light transport aircraft, 12 An-26 medium and short-range transport aircraft, 4 Yak-40 regional transport aircraft, and 10 M-28 maritime patrol aircraft, including basic Tactical transport capabilities are not even achieved. In terms of helicopters, there are 26 Mi-24 armed transport helicopters, 15 anti-submarine helicopters (the models are very confusing, including 3 card-25, 10 card-28 and 2 card-32), 4 HT3M-6 heavy transport helicopter HT4, more than 50 HT3M-8HT4, HT3M-17 transport helicopter HT4, etc.
The Su-30 of the Vietnamese Air Force
Through the above introduction, everyone can find that Vietnam, known as the largest military power in Southeast Asia, has only 47 third-generation fighter jets in its air force, which is no match for the "city country": Singapore (its main force is 60 F-16C/D light fighter jets and 40 F-15SG heavy fighter jets). For Vietnam of its size, a third-generation aircraft fleet of this size is obviously not enough, so Vietnam has also been actively seeking new modern fighter jets in recent years.Fortunately, China is a responsible and peace-loving country, while the air forces of other neighboring countries of Vietnam are lagging behind than Vietnam, so the Vietnamese Air Force can sit back and relax for the time being!
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