In our impression, Vietnam is undoubtedly a very capable country. I remember that wars continued in Vietnam after and World War II. Every day we were either fighting or on the way to a fight. And none of the opponents they encountered were good. In the past there was France, the European hegemon, and in the end there was the United States, the beacon of the West. In the end, even our old master personally went to clean up the family.
Although it is Vietnam that gets beaten almost every time, they never give in. They are just like the Asian version of the flat-headed brother, who takes life and death lightly and will do whatever they don't accept. So in terms of theoretical results, even in the "wheel war" between the three P5 countries, Vietnam still has not lost.
picked three five-permanent-level powers in a row. Among the non-five-permanent countries in the world at that time, Vietnam was probably the only one. With such an impressive record, Vietnam has easily earned the status of a "powerful country". Especially in Southeast Asia, which is a three-thirds of an acre of land, Vietnam is the leader and can attack whoever it wants. Even in the eyes of some Vietnamese, they are the third military power in the world, and no one except the United States and the Soviet Union takes it seriously.
But everyone has moments of glory, don’t take a moment as eternity. Today's Vietnam no longer has the arrogance of punching the United States and kicking France in the past, and its force value is quite low.
According to statistics from the Global Firepower Index website, Vietnam currently has a total available defense force of about 510,000, including about 470,000 standing regular troops and about 40,000 other paramilitary forces. The main combat equipment of each branch mainly includes more than 200 aircraft, more than 2,000 tanks, and more than 100 warships.
Judging from the data given by the Global Firepower Index, Vietnam's current military size is quite considerable. The standing armed forces of nearly 500,000 people are extremely large no matter where they are placed. Looking at the world today, there are no more than 10 countries that can reach the scale of Vietnam. Even established powers like Britain and France cannot compare with Vietnam in terms of standing regular troops. The United Kingdom, in particular, only has a standing army of less than 200,000, not even half of Vietnam's.
In addition, the amount of equipment in Vietnam is not small, especially the more than 2,000 tanks equipped by the army, which can already surpass most countries in the world. For comparison, the three countries known as the European Troika, Britain, France and Germany, have less than 1,000 main battle tanks combined.
So from a purely quantitative perspective, Vietnam still has a good foundation. But as the saying goes, it’s not about having more soldiers but about being skilled. To measure the strength of an army, you can’t just look at quantity, but also at quality. Especially in the modern warfare system, the role of weapons and equipment has become increasingly critical. There is a huge combat power gap between weapons and equipment of different advanced levels, which is difficult to make up for simply by simply accumulating quantity.
For example, if a second-generation tank with ordinary steel plates and machine-aimed guns faces a third-generation main battle tank with solid composite armor and advanced fire control system, it is basically helpless to fight back. If someone hits you, you will get a big hole, if you hit them, you will get a big white seal. Ten boxes are not enough for one person to eat. Another example is the second-generation aircraft that lacks electronic lightning and missile systems. When facing the current fourth-generation mainstream fighters, they are completely moving targets in the air. You have to drop as many missiles and as they have.
The current equipment level of the Vietnamese army is relatively backward, with a lot of old products. For example, in the air, about half of Vietnam's fighter planes are Su-22, which was a product of the middle period of the Cold War and is almost half a century old.
For example, on land, Vietnam's current main battle tanks include a large number of second-generation tanks, such as the Soviet Union's T-54, T-62 and our Type 59, which are all antiques from the 1950s and 1960s.
As for the most expensive maritime equipment, Vietnam is even more miserable and full of "foreign garbage" equipment left over from the last century.
Obviously, for the current Vietnamese national defense, equipment is undoubtedly a huge shortcoming.Although Vietnam also has advanced equipment, such as Su-30MK2 fighters, T-90 tanks , and "Cheetah" class frigates , etc. Unfortunately, their number is limited and cannot match Vietnam's current huge military power needs.
So overall, the Vietnamese army is still an army with relatively backward equipment, and its combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced as a result. In the final analysis, this is still a question of money. After all, only those with money can afford the army. When a cannon is fired, gold is worth ten thousand taels. Building an army has always been a money-burning game. The purchase of weapons and equipment alone costs a lot of money, and any tank costs millions of dollars.
As a small country in Southeast Asia, Vietnam's economic strength is relatively limited, and it is obviously not free when it comes to spending money. For example, in 2022, Vietnam's defense budget will be only US$6.2 billion. After excluding basic personnel training and living expenses, there will naturally not be much money left to buy equipment.
In short, economic difficulties have prevented Vietnam from updating its equipment system in a timely manner, and the military is filled with a large amount of old equipment.
Of course, the lack of money affects not only the equipment, but also people's lives. In order to maintain the huge expenditure of the army, the Vietnamese military had to find a way to be "self-reliant." After Vietnam launched its reform and opening up in 1986, the Vietnamese army strived to set an example, taking the lead and diving into the business world without looking back. With the various resources and privileges of the military, they opened companies and operated ports, and their business was booming.
Today's Vietnamese army is already a major economic giant in Vietnam, with huge influence in telecommunications , real estate, foreign trade and even the financial field. It is no exaggeration to say that if you look at the militaries of various countries in the world today, Vietnam is definitely the best at doing business.
However, this is actually not a good thing. After all, the army is used to defend the country, not to fight in the commercial sea. If an army does not engage in business all day long, it will inevitably be corrupted by money, not to mention how the internal corruption problem will intensify. If it neglects military training and construction, it will definitely not escape. How much combat effectiveness can such an army have?
The poor and backward equipment system, coupled with the military groups that are not doing their jobs properly, is destined to not have a high upper limit of Vietnam's military combat effectiveness, and Vietnam's military strength will be greatly reduced as a result. Of course, this is not the end. Vietnam not only has problems with military construction, but also lacks an independent national defense system.
Due to its relatively backward industrial development, Vietnam has not yet been able to establish a complete military industry system, and most of its weapons and equipment can only be imported. Especially main battle tanks, main fighter aircraft, large ships, etc., they all have to be purchased from elsewhere. It's not even enough to just buy some equipment. You also have to purchase other people's post-maintenance services. If parts are no longer replaced one day, you have to ask people to send them express delivery.
Vietnam’s shortcomings in the military industry will undoubtedly have a huge impact on the country’s military strength. After all, weapons and equipment have always been consumables. It does not mean that you can ignore them after buying them. Subsequent maintenance and replacement are necessary processes. If during the war, one's own equipment import channels are cut off, it will be hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice. Thinking about when Argentina faced the United Kingdom, if France had not cut off the supply of Exocet missile , maybe it could have persisted for a while.
So in summary, Vietnam’s military strength today can hardly be called strong. Not to mention that it is not ranked globally, even in Southeast Asia, Vietnam cannot be called invincible. , Indonesia, , Thailand and Singapore all have less military strength than Vietnam.
Of course, when it comes to this, many people still disagree. After all, Vietnam never seems to rely on advanced equipment or developed military industry to fight. Back when Vietnam was punching France and kicking the United States, the conditions were even worse than they are now, and they were still fighting vigorously.
Regarding this period of history, in fact, everyone has overlooked a key role.When Vietnam was fighting against France and the United States, we, as a neighbor, had strong support behind it. All kinds of weapons and supplies were sent free of charge. We even sent a large number of military talents to teach the Vietnamese how to shoot and fire artillery. Otherwise, they would not even know how to fight a war.
So whether it was before or now, Vietnam is actually not great and is completely overrated.
