Will Vietnam practice live-fire S-300PMU-1 in Russia?
Live-fire testing and evaluating the training process of the S-300PMU-1 air defense missile battery is an urgent requirement for Vietnam.
The Vietnamese army officially received two S-300PMU-1 air defense missile systems from Russia in 2003, and has now been in service for 15 years.
However, unlike other weapon systems, our S-300PMU-1 systems have so far never been announced to practice firing live ammunition, but only to track "dry" targets, which makes it difficult to give an accurate assessment of training effectiveness.
Although in recent times there have been many signs showing that Vietnam is determined to put its S-300PMU-1 into combat practice, due to many remaining difficulties, the above plan has not yet been implemented.
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| Self-propelled launcher vehicle of Vietnam's S-300PMU-1 air defense missile system. |
The most important issue that prevents Vietnam's S-300PMU-1 from firing live ammunition comes from its superior technical and tactical features, which is the range of the interceptor missile.
Currently there is no specific information about the type of ammunition that Vietnam's S-300 is equipped with. It could be the 48N6E with a range of 150 km, but it is also possible that we possess the 48N6E2 ammunition that can reach a longer range.
When conducting live fire with these types of missiles, an extremely wide maneuver is required for the missile to fully utilize its effectiveness.
There have been proposals to fire the 48N6 missile at a minimum distance, but this would destroy the value of testing the effectiveness of the weapon, so a better solution is needed.
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| S-300 air defense missile system firing live ammunition. |
One solution that Vietnam can consider is to "borrow the training ground" from Russia, by participating in the Keys to the Sky event within the framework of the International Army Games.
Keys to the Sky is a competition between anti-aircraft missile batteries of different ranges and altitudes, which of course includes the competition of S-300 batteries from many countries.
The option of bringing S-300PMU-1 to Russia to participate in Keys to the Sky can be considered because of the benefits it brings.
First, Vietnam will be given a large enough training ground to comprehensively evaluate the technical and tactical features of the superior weapons it possesses.
Next, through competition with international air defense forces, we will see more clearly our strengths and weaknesses to come up with more reasonable training plans in the future.
Therefore, in addition to the Tank Biathlon, Engineering Formula, Military Medical Race Race and Field Kitchen competitions of the International Army Games 2018, it is not impossible that from next year Vietnam will participate in Keys to the Sky.
