Vietnam will produce weapons with modern technology

Vietnam is researching investment in the production of modern military weapons, gradually reducing purchases from foreign countries, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army, Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan shared with reporters.

- Lieutenant General, what is Vietnam's current main military doctrine?

- Vietnam's military doctrine is to build a regular, elite army, gradually modernize, and move towards modernizing the entire army. In the previous period, we could only modernize five forces including the Air Defense - Air Force, Navy, Communications, Technical Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare. In this period, we will move towards modernizing all military branches.

A unique feature of Vietnam's military doctrine that we still maintain is to build a people's war and all-people's war posture to protect the Fatherland, maintain stability and create a favorable environment for development. At the same time, we are ready to defeat any enemy that intends to invade our country.

Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan. Photo: Quy Doan.

- With the mission of protecting the country's sovereignty, peace and territorial integrity, how is the Vietnam People's Army modernized, sir?

- The function of the Vietnam People's Army is to protect the Fatherland, protect the achievements of the revolution and maintain a peaceful environment so that the people can live in prosperity and together build and develop the country. We modernize the army to be ready to deal with and defeat foreign invaders, so that the enemy does not dare to invade Vietnam, not to invade other countries.

However, to protect the peaceful environment in the current context, the army needs to have a comprehensive strength. Modernizing the army is therefore reflected in many different aspects such as modernization of weapons and equipment, organization of elite, compact, highly combat-capable personnel, training of high-quality human resources and combat training for soldiers.

Nowadays, science, technology and weapons are developing rapidly, so soldiers using combat weapons and modern weapons need to be equipped with knowledge and achieve the necessary capacity and level. Vietnam is also researching, building and developing modern military doctrines, as well as researching and investing in self-production of modern military weapons to gradually reduce foreign purchases. This is a comprehensive strategy with a vision of several decades.

- As the Lieutenant General said, improving the quality of human resources is very important, so how is this being done?

- Military modernization is comprehensively demonstrated in all areas, but human resource development is the most important. Because if weapons and equipment are modern but people do not have the ability to use them all, it will not be effective.

We have been building and developing a system of military schools and academies, combined with advanced civilian schools to train highly qualified human resources, qualified to receive and use modern weapons. In addition, the state also sends human resources to study at advanced schools in the world, acquiring knowledge to synchronize people with weapons, mastering equipment.

Besides, one of the important things that the government is doing is to properly handle the regime and policies for soldiers, so that they can feel secure about their lives, and create motivation for them to serve and build the army.

Vietnam Navy receives Kilo 184 Hai Phong submarine. Photo: Ha My.

- In addition to traditional weapons sources from the Soviet Union (formerly) and Russia today, which countries does Vietnam cooperate in producing and purchasing weapons from?

- Due to history, most of Vietnam's weapons and equipment were imported from the Soviet Union, later the Russian Federation, and the CIS countries. Today's world is an open world, so the foreign policy viewpoint of our Party, State, and Army is to expand, integrate, and multilateralize relations.

Therefore, to strengthen the weapons and modernize the army, in addition to the Russian Federation, Vietnam also imports some weapons from other countries with criteria of reliability, compliance with international law, non-harmful to third countries and reasonable prices. That is the law of the market economy, any product that is good and cheap will be consumed.

Besides procurement, we also have cooperation with Russia and other countries on technology transfer. Vietnam will rely on your country's modern technology to manufacture weapons itself.

- Weapons and equipment captured during the war against the US are still in use today. So what role do these weapons play in Vietnam's military resources?

- Vietnam previously used weapons and equipment captured during the war against the US with the view of saving, keeping them well and using them for a long time. But after 40 years, this quantity is still very small and does not play a key role in the weapons and equipment of the Vietnam People's Army. In principle, we will gradually eliminate these weapons and equipment from the equipment system.

According to VNE