Posted on 06/05/2015 10:05:18 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
SINGAPORE: Vietnam is in talks with European and US contractors to buy fighter jets, maritime patrol planes and unarmed drones, sources said, as it looks to beef up its aerial defences in the face of China's growing assertiveness in disputed waters.
The battle-hardened country has already taken possession of three Russian-built Kilo-attack submarines and has three more on order as part of a $2.6 billion deal agreed in 2009. Upgrading its air force would give Vietnam one of the most potent militaries in Southeast Asia.
The previously unreported aircraft discussions have involved Swedish defence contractor Saab , European consortium Eurofighter, the defence wing of Airbus Group and US firms Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing, said industry sources with direct knowledge of the talks.
Defence contractors had made multiple visits to Vietnam in recent months although no deals were imminent, said the sources, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. Some of the sources characterised the talks as ongoing.
One Western defence contractor said Hanoi wanted to modernise its air force by replacing more than 100 ageing Russian MiG-21 fighters while reducing its reliance on Moscow for weapons for its roughly 480,000-strong military.
Vietnam has ordered about a dozen more Russian Sukhoi Su-30 front-line fighters to supplement a fleet of older Su-27s and Su-30s.
"We had indications they want to reduce their dependence on Russia. Their growing friendship with America and Europe will help them to do that," said the defence contractor.
US Defense Secretary Ash Carter, during a visit to Vietnam on Sunday, pledged $18 million to help Hanoi buy US patrol boats. But any deal with Lockheed or Boeing would likely be the most significant involving a US firm since Washington started easing a long-time emba
(Excerpt) Read more at ndtv.com ...
Didn’t we leave some old F-4s in VN ?
Ping!
We will send a former pilot from Arizona to help them train.
Dont even have to return him.
No, we left Northrop F-5’s. The F-5 was the single seat fighter version of T-38 Talon trainer.
Ironic......................
Why would they want him? He got shot down!..................
Very ironic indeed!
They should just get some nukes from Iran.
Interesting.
“By March 30 Da Nang under communist control. Approximately 130 South Vietnamese military aircraft managed to evacuate but over 180 were left behind including thirty-three A-37s ground attack aircraft; F-5 fighter-bombers; UH-1 helicopters of several configurations, and other aircraft, most of which were captured intact.”
“The Vietnamese incorporated most of the left behind a/c,
including the F-5s and A-37s, in their air force after 1975. The F-5s were used as part of the newly-established composite 935th Regiment (also equipped with MiG-21s), while the A-37s were assigned to the newly-established 937th Regiment. The 918th Air Transport Regiment operated C-47s, C-119s, and C-130s, while the 917th Mixed Air Regiment
operated U-17s, L-19s, UH-1s and CH-47s. Most of these saw action against the Khmer Rouge.”
We got all the F-4s out. We left F-5s, A-37s, Hueys and Skyraiders.
There is a well maintained A-37 in front of a museum near the airport in Da Nang.
The whole time I was thinking, how can I get a truck to tow it to the runway, 200 gallons of Jet-A and a jump start?
I travel to Vietnam regularly for business. Southern Vietnamese are among the most-pro American people I meet. I regularly meet former soldiers and civilians who will approach me, tell me which American units they served with, which American C.O.’s they had, etc...
Their stories are uniformly sad immediately after 1975 - they spent years in “reeducation” afterward, and were consigned to lowly jobs or monitoring afterward. The country and its political climate has changed drastically though. Most have moved on with their lives - some are thriving in the new proto-capitalist environment. None have hard feelings about being abandoned by the USA.
Hahahahahahahahaha!
The communists convinced the stupid Vietnamese people that if they would kill the American Soldiers, the communists would bring them heaven on earth.
So the stupid Vietnamese people believed the communist fairy tales and killed what, 55,000 American Soldiers?
And the communists took over.
Now, Chinese factory owners open factories in Vietnam and pay the Vietnamese workers $100 a month.
Vietnamese parents sell their boys to be raped by homosexual tourists for cash.
Now, the communist leaders of Vietnam, who ride around in limousines, are using the precious tax money to buy military equipment from the people their communist leaders told them to kill. And their communist leaders are now scared shirtless about the Chinese, who they invited in to run North Vietnam while all the North Vietnamese males were sent south to fight and die.
Has anybody calculated the misery brought about because of the stupidity of the Vietnamese people?
Hahahahahahaha!
Send the communist leaders to the front!
...we were there once, didn’t do any good, so fight your own damn battles...we are over with the ‘protect the world’
...we have a ‘lunatic’ president that thinks he’s god, so we are staying here, protecting real americans....
He's downed more American planes than any pilot the VN's have produced. He's a Russian Ace. And that's leaving open the question whether he was responsible for the flight deck accident.
VERY interesting. Thanks for the ping.
We’ll build ‘em, if the Chinese agree to sell us the parts.
Biggerten,
Thank you for the info on the SVAF in your post #11.
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