Russian missiles to guard skies over Vietnam

See http://atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/EI05Ag02.html

Russian missiles to guard skies over Vietnam

By Sergei Blagov

MOSCOW - Three decades after the end of Vietnam War, the latest
generation of the notorious Russian-made "telephone poles" are due to
resurface in Vietnam.

Russia has just clinched a deal to export to Vietnam two of S300 PMU1
air defense batteries (or 12 launchers) for a reported nearly US$300
million. The S300 PMU is an advanced version of the SA-10C Grumble air
defense missile. According to Russian missile makers, the new S300 has
anti-stealth capability and can shoot down combat aircraft, cruise
missiles, as well as ballistic missiles in an anti-ballistic missile
mode.

The S300 PMU1 missile system can engage targets flying as low as 10
meters off the ground at a range of up to 150 kilometers. The missile
complex is seen as a serious supplement to the combat ability of the
Vietnamese air defense forces.

However, Russia is yet to sell more advanced S300 PMU2 complexes to
Hanoi, while Beijing has been reportedly considered as a potential
buyer of these newer missile complexes.

The first contracts to sell the S300 PMU-1 to China were signed in
1993. In December 2001, Moscow and Beijing reportedly clinched another
deal to supply the People's Liberation Army with an undisclosed number
of S300 PMU1 air defense batteries for a reported $400 million.

The S300 PMU2 "Favorit" variant, or SA-10C GRUMBLE, is a new missile
with a larger warhead and better guidance with a range of 200
kilometers, versus the 150 kilometers of the S300 PMU1.

The S300 PMU2 uses new 48N6E2 missiles, which weigh 1,800 kilograms
and are 7.5 meters long. After a catapult "cold" start in the upright
position, the 48N6E2 accelerates up to 1,900 meters a second in 12
seconds, and then hits the target from above. The 48N6E2 differs from
the older 48N6E in having a new warhead designed for destroying
ballistic missiles, with a warhead weight of 145 kilograms versus
70-100 kilograms. The S300 PMU2 can engage targets flying at altitudes
ranging from 10 meters to 27 kilometers at a speed of up to 10,000
kilometers per hour.

Apart from official sales, Vietnam has probably mulled some unorthodox
ways to get access to Russia's air defense technology. For instance,
in October 2002 customs officers in Russia's second city, St
Petersburg, reportedly foiled an audacious smuggling attempt. While
checking containers bound by sea for Vietnam, they uncovered spare
parts for state-of-the-art Russian anti-aircraft systems, labeled as
car parts. Yet the incident has had no follow-up and did not derail
the S300 sales.

Apart from China, Russia has supplied S300 PMU systems to Cyprus.
India is also reported to be mulling the lease of two Russian-made
S300 PMU antimissile air defense systems to protect its nuclear
command posts and other vital military assets. A formal offer was
first made to India in 1995 to sell the S300 PMU, but there have been
no reports on actual deals so far.

The deployment of the S300 PMU in the former USSR started in 1986.
Various versions of the complex were delivered in various years to
Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and the former East Germany. Among
post-Soviet countries, only Belarus and Kazakhstan have the S300
system.

Though Vietnam is now fully integrated into the Southeast Asian
community, Hanoi remains eager to arm its military with Russian
weapons, well tested during decades of the Vietnam war. In March 2001,
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Hanoi and announced a new
strategic partnership with Vietnam. The Russian leader said that
"Vietnam needs not just to maintain its existing weapons bought from
the Soviet Union and Russia, but also needs modern weapons." In March
2002, Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov went to Hanoi and pledged to
supply advanced weapons to Vietnam.

Bilateral military ties are set to go ahead because Vietnam seeks to
modernize its half-million strong armed forces, and it has once again
turned to Russia. Vietnam remains an important customer for Russian
arms. In recent years, Hanoi has purchased Russian Sukhoi
fighter-bombers, and an anti-ship missile system. In 1995, Hanoi
bought six Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker fighter jets for $150 million and in
1997 signed a contract for six more planes and spare parts. Moscow has
been selling Su-27 aircraft with a combat range of 3,680 kilometers to
Vietnam as well as China.

In recent years, the Vietnamese military has also bought six missile
boats of the "1241 project" for some $120 million and four radar
stations in Russia. Vietnam is also purchasing the Mosquito anti-ship
missile complex, with supersonic missiles that can fly at extremely
low altitudes - below 10 meters - with an ability to hit targets
within a 120 kilometer range.

The Russians reportedly suggested technical assistance in upgrading
Vietnam's military infrastructure, notably airfield and command posts.
The Russians also suggested the Vietnamese purchase more Sukhoi-27s,
and consider buying another jetfighter, the MiG-29, as well as MiG
training jets.

In the heyday of ideological ties between Hanoi and Moscow - the
three-and-a-half decades between the mid-1950s and 1990 - the former
Soviet Union flooded its ideological ally in Southeast Asia with
concessionary loans and arms shipments. During this time Moscow
supplied Hanoi's army with most of its hardware, because the former
Soviet Union considered Vietnam an important outpost of the "socialist
camp'' in Southeast Asia. After the collapse of the former Soviet
Union, its military aid was replaced by Russian commercial armament
sales because Vietnam's 500,000-strong army still needs Russian arms
and spare parts.

Between 1953 and 1991, the USSR supplied North - and later unified -
Vietnam with 2,000 tanks, 1,700 armored vehicles, 7,000 pieces of
artillery and mortars, 5,000 pieces of artillery, 158 missile
complexes, 700 warplanes, 120 helicopters, more than 100 naval
vessels. Some three quarters of all weaponry now used by the
Vietnamese army has been made in Russia, while more than 13,000
Vietnamese officers had studied in the former USSR.

Notably, Moscow contributed weapons essential to North Vietnamese
defense capabilities against the American air war, including radar
systems, antiaircraft artillery, surface-to-air missiles (SAMs).
Without this materiel, Vietnamese air defense would have been hardly
feasible.

In August 1965, the first SAMs were fired at four US Phantoms over
Vietnam, shooting down three. This marked the first time that US
planes were attacked by surface-to-air missiles.

Between 1965 and 1972, the Soviets supplied to North Vietnam a total
of 95 missile complexes - initially SA-75M "Dvina" and later S75
"Desna" - as well as 7,658 SAMs. However, both "Dvina" and "Desna"
were not the most advanced Soviet designs and Hanoi did not get the
more up-to-date S125 "Volkhov" during the war.

The Vietnamese military reportedly complained that they were getting
missiles of obsolete designs. In some cases, the Vietnamese even
removed fresh paint from missile complexes and discovered old marks
suggesting that the weapons were brought from East Germany or Poland.

Some of the missile complexes supplied to Vietnam from the Soviet
Union during the war were actually second-hand weapons, produced in
1956-1958. The main reason for Moscow's failure to supply North
Vietnam with the newest armaments was the Kremlin's fear that the
Vietnamese could leak Soviet military secrets to the Chinese.

Furthermore, the missiles initially were forwarded to Vietnam by rail
freight through China and the Soviets were reluctant to leave their
newest weapons vulnerable for possible inspections by the Chinese.

On the other hand, Soviet military experts complained that the
Vietnamese themselves were handling S75 missiles without proper care,
letting them fall from the track, for instance.

Nonetheless, with the Soviet assistance in the North the Vietnamese
mounted a strong antiaircraft defense, once dubbed the "most
sophisticated and effective" in the history of warfare. This system
created an environment in which aircraft tactics designed to escape
one type of threat brought the plane under threat from another layer
of the system. The Soviet-built "telephone poles" were deadly
effective.

In sum, between July 1965 and January 1973, a total of 6,806 missiles
were fired, destroyed by US pilots or simply broke down. By January
1973, Vietnam still had 39 operational SA75M complexes, the remaining
56 were destroyed in combat or became non-operational due to poor
maintenance.

Now Russian-built "telephone poles" are due to reappear in Vietnam,
although Hanoi is highly unlikely to deal with the kind of the air war
it faced three decades ago.

(Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
contact content@atimes.com for information on our sales and
syndication policies.)

http://atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/EI05Ag02.html

>>>
Russia has just clinched a deal to export to Vietnam two of S300 PMU1
air defense batteries (or 12 launchers) for a reported nearly US$300
million.
>>>>

Many thanks for the link. However, I want to ask you, George. Do you think
this new weapon system ordered by Vietnam will going to threat the security
of any country or will it contribute to the stability of any country?

Also check out these links:

More details of the S300 deal:
http://strategypage.com/fyeo/howtoma...p?target=htada

Vietnamese missile boats underconstruction:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...ussia/1242.htm

Vietnam also took delivery of missile facility plan from Russia to build the
igla shoulder fire missile:
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/m.../row/sa-18.htm