Electronic Warfare Brigade 96 (Electronic Warfare Department, General Staff) is tasked with regular and mobile electronic warfare across Central - Central Highlands battlefield. As a newly-founded unit performing various highly specialised and complex tasks, the Brigade has been faced with a lot of difficulties and challenges. Nevertheless, with great political resolve, the Brigade’s Party Committee and Command have synchronously taken a lot of measures, with the building of an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong Brigade as a breakthrough, thereby gaining initial results of significance for the successful fulfilment of all tasks.

Refresher course on electronic warfare for cadres

First of all, focusing on building a politically strong Brigade as the basis for the building of an “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong unit. This measure is of utmost importance to the Brigade as it is stabilising its organisation structure and stationed positions while being assigned to manage a large quantity of modern military hardware. Thus, the Brigade’s Party and Command have grasped and strictly executed resolutions and directives by the Party and the Central Military Commission (CMC) on building politically strong units. In addition to raising the quality of political education and troops’ steadfastness in the Party and Military’s goals and ideals, all-level party committees and commands across the Brigade have enhanced the work of education and propagation to raise their troops’ awareness of electronic warfare-related requirements and tasks. They have concentrated on clarifying advantages and difficulties, especially in training and combat readiness, with a view to heightening each collective and individual’s responsibility and resolve to overcome hardships. Offices and units across the Brigade have proactively grasped and well managed troops’ ideological developments and social relationships, thus opportunely, completely settling emerging ideological issues, enabling troops to keep their mind on their work.

Additionally, the Brigade’s Party Committee and Command have regularly built strong organisations, with importance attached to consolidating all-level party organisations relevant to the Brigade’s organisational structure. Measures have been adopted to improve all-level party organisations’ comprehensive leadership capacity and combativeness; the building of party cells has been seen as a key step; the building of excellent party organisations has been aligned with the building of “exemplarily, typically” comprehensively strong units, while the building of a contingent of party committee members has been associated with the building of a corps of key cadres. Offices and units have well executed the Determined to Win Emulation Movement in tandem with the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle, Conclusion 21-KL/TW, dated 25 October 2021, by the Party Central Committee on the building and rectification of the Party and political system, and the CMC’s Resolution 847-NQ/QUTW, dated 28 December 2021, on promoting the virtues of “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers”, resolutely fighting individualism in the new situation. The Brigade has well carried out the work of internal political protection; mass organisations have been consolidated with many reforms in their operations; Regulations on Grass-Roots Democracy have been stringently maintained; institutions have been brought into play to contribute to building a healthy cultural environment and improving troops’ mental life. Offices and units have effectively implemented the emulation movements of “clever mass mobilisation” and “building good mass mobilisation units”, closely combining mass mobilisation with national target programs in their stationed areas, which has been highly appreciated by local party committees, authorities, and people and contributed to building a firm “posture of people’s hearts and minds”.

To meet the requirements of electronic warfare and signal protection in a large area, the Brigade has continued to make force adjustments under regulations and strive for a breakthrough in training and combat readiness. Regarding its strength after establishment, while proactively giving advice to its higher echelons on deploying and appointing cadres to its positions, the Brigade has aligned yearly military call-up work with recruitment of cadres and employees on the spot and actively organised refresher courses to improve its staff’s competence and task performance. Offices and units have adhered to higher echelons’ directives, plans, and guidance on combat readiness, raising their cadres, employees, and soldiers’ awareness of this task. They have designed and completed combat readiness documents, stringently maintaining regulations on command duty, workplace duty, combat readiness duty, and reconnaissance duty, particularly in key areas, building an electronic warfare database, giving sound, timely advice to higher echelons and readily taking part in dealing with situations when being ordered. They have closely worked with other forces to strengthen reconnaissance and VSI3 positioning systems and implement electronic warfare plans in the areas of their responsibility. They have also proactively prepared sufficient personnel and means to readily participate in natural disaster response and search and rescue, thereby being highly appreciated by local authorities and people.

Following the CMC’s Resolution 1659-NQ/QUTW, dated 20 December 2022, and Resolution 524-NQ/ĐU, dated 18 April 2023, by the Electronic Warfare Department’s Party Committee on raising the quality of training in the period of 2023 - 2030 and beyond, the Brigade has focused its leadership and direction on comprehensively improving its training work via synchronised, effective measures. The system of documents for directing and operating training work has been designed sufficiently, uniformly, properly. In addition to investing in training grounds, models, and equipment, the Brigade has attached significance to the training of its staff, particularly cadres in charge of training work, young cadres, and new graduates. In the process, the Brigade has directed its offices and units to adhere to the motto of “basics, practicality, solidity”, ensure sufficient content and length of training for their troops under plans, organise specialised, synchronised training courses, with practice as the main method. A part from comprehensive, basic training, the Brigade has trained its troops to proficiently use its existing weapons and equipment, master the new ones, grasp targets of combat, specialised techniques and tactics, and diversionary tactics, as well as adopt electronic warfare, hi-tech weapon, and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) countermeasures. The Brigade has increased night-time, independent combat, two-side signal combat, manoeuvre, and situation handling training; inspections and assessments of training work have been carried out in an objective, substantive way. As a result, detachment-level units’ combat capacity and manoeuvrability, cadres’ organisation and command capabilities as well as soldiers’ hands-on skills have been improved. In 2024, all troops of the Brigade got pass in training work, 76% of them achieved merit or distinction; the Brigade excellently accomplished its tasks during CKB-24 and QC-24 exercises, with absolute safety and a Certificate of Merit given by the Ministry of National Defence.

The Brigade has also attached great value to regularity building and discipline management. Offices and units have been active in improving their barracks with a standardised system of signboards, strictly maintaining regulations on daily, weekly duties and military courtesies, aligning regularity building and discipline management with the building of a healthy, pure cultural environment. The Brigade has been making investments in its troops’ accommodation in a modern, clean, orderly way so far.

To achieve a solid positive change in its troops’ observance of the State’s laws and the Military’s discipline, the Brigade has frequently educated its troops on 12 rules of discipline in their relationship with the people and safety regulations. In the process, the Brigade has always heightened the vanguard, exemplary role of its cadres and party members, requiring them to match their words with action and set good examples in terms of work and living for their subordinates and the masses to follow. The Brigade has also directed its offices and units to regularly, stringently maintain discipline, adopt measures of management relevant to each group of troops, and closely manage their strength, particularly within independent affiliates and sections performing tasks outside camps as well as on national holidays, in days off, and during rest hours. To combine the building of safe units with the building of safe areas, the Brigade has proactively, closely cooperated with local party committees and authorities in managing its troops’ social relationships and preventing social evils from penetrating into itself. Thanks to its proactivity, the Brigade has achieved positive changes in its troops’ observance of the State’s laws and the Military’s discipline, with no serious disciplinary violation being recorded and the rate of normal disciplinary violations standing at below 0.2%.

The Brigade has exercised its close, resolute direction over logistics and technical work to provide timely, comprehensive support for training, combat readiness, and signal protection. The Brigade has frequently reviewed, adjusted, and supplemented logistics and technical support plans in accordance with its combat projects and contingency tasks. Emphasis has been placed on decentralising material reserve for combat readiness under higher echelons’ directives and guidance. Offices and units have well taken care of their troops’ health, with the rate of healthy troops reaching nearly 99%. Offices and units have brought into play the system of barns and gardens, actively improving land for crop husbandry, raising the productivity and quality of green vegetable planting for troops’ meals. Besides, the Brigade has directed its offices and units to closely manage the quantity, quality, and synchronicity of their weapons and technical equipment for all tasks, especially for training and combat readiness. Offices and units have been required to adhere to regulations on weaponry maintenance and repair, closely inspect and categorise weapons and technical equipment, and decommission low-quality weapons and technical equipment, thereby ensuring absolute safety during training. The Brigade has directed its offices and units to grasp and closely follow higher echelons’ directives on ensuring information safety, regularly inspect information safety and cyber security work, and guarantee absolute safety in training and traffic participation. At the same time, the Brigade has effectively executed Campaign 50, with significance attached to preserving and sustainably, intensively exploiting military hardware, actively applying digital technology to technical work, raising the quality of technical support for training, combat readiness, and other contingency missions, thereby contributing to successfully fulfilling all assigned tasks.

Sr. Col. PHAM ANH BINH

Commander of the Brigade