As part of the combat formation of the Air Defence - Air Force Service, the Division 370 is tasked with training and combat readiness to firmly protect South Vietnam’s airspace, seas, continental shelf, and key economic, political regions. In addition, it is assigned to transport leaders of the Party, the State, and the Military on special flights to visit and inspect Southern provinces and units, the islands of Truong Sa, and the DK1 Platform, carry out search and rescue flights, provide training in airborne operation and parachuting, training Lao and Cambodian cadets, and pilot new aircraft for other friendly units within the Service. It shall actively take part in joint exercises, national emergency drills, and provincial and district-level defensive zone manoeuvres as well as perform several other contingency missions. Being acutely aware of the assigned task, over the years, the Division’s Party Committee and Command have always focused their leadership and direction on improving the quality of training and ensuring flight safety to make contributions to raising the Division’s combat readiness capacity and combat power.

First of all, the Division has concentrated on rendering its troops fully aware of the importance and requirements of flight training and assurance to build up their determination to fulfil their task. Offices and units within the Division have educated their cadres and soldiers on military-defence policies by the Party and the Central Military Commission, the 11^th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.8 on the Strategy to Defend the Homeland in the new situation, and the Resolution of the 11^th Military Party Congress. More importantly, directives and resolutions on training and combat readiness by the Central Military Commission, the Ministry of National Defence, and the Air Defence - Air Force Service have been introduced to all troops. All-level party committees and commands have adopted various forms and methods of education and propagation, while combining task introduction with legal education and ideological orientation in order to raise cadres and soldiers’ political awareness and responsibility so that they would “devote more effort on the training ground to minimise losses on the battlefield.” Emphasis has been placed on building up pilots’ political zeal and determination to master modern weapons and technical equipment and readily defeat the enemy’s hi-tech warfare. Significance has been attached to training troops to deal with shortcomings of the existing weapons and equipment and encouraging them to improve their fitness and ensure the safety and quality of training.

Affiliates of the Division have effectively executed the Determination to Win Emulation Movement in tandem with the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics and lifestyle and the Campaign entitled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s Soldiers - Elite Air Defence - Air Force Soldiers.” They have proactively detected, cultivated, and multiplied typical models and “good people, good deed” examples, with a focus on units and individuals directly performing important, difficult tasks as an incentive for cadres and soldiers to overcome hardships and successfully fulfil all assigned missions.

Commander of the Division congratulating the group of Russian experts on their task performance at the Division

The training of air force troops is carried out in the air, with the use of modern, high-speed technical means, thereby requiring great precision and close coordination between forces, while troops have to undergo high-intensity training and deal with situations in a prompt, independent fashion. Moreover, pilots often perform their task in the harsh, complex, life-threatening weather condition in the air. Therefore, the Division has frequently attached great value to directing and operating the training work in a “focalised, uniformed, synchronous, effective” manner. Grasping resolutions and directives on combat training and the training motto of “basics, practicality, thorough grasp, safety, and thrift,” units of the Division have actively renewed the contents and methods of training to meet the task requirements. All-level party committees and commands have always reached an agreement on the contents and methods of training in the air and on the ground on a monthly and weekly basis, while developing training plans relevant to their units’ particularities, task, and practical condition. In the training process, the Division has directed its affiliates to adhere to the training motto, links, and principles, provide comprehensive but focalised training, take flight training as the centre, and consider the training of cadres as the key. The Division has required its offices and units to organise fundamental training courses, from theory to practice as well as from easy to difficult under the combat flight training curriculum so as to enable pilots to acquire knowledge and skills of flight systematically, gradually enhance the training quality, and ensure the safety of flight. In this regard, consideration has been given to flight training at sea and night. Pilots have been trained to fly for conducting reconnaissance and observation, intercepting the enemy’s low-speed, low-altitude aircraft, preventing the enemy’s aircraft violating our airspace, carrying out search and rescue at sea and on the ground, and parachuting troops as well as to take off and land on the DK1 Platform, the LST vessels, and the Military Hospital 175. Besides, the Division has organised training courses for pilots from L-39 to Su-22 and Su-33 and taken charge of training cadets from the Air Force Officer College, Laos and Cambodia in flying Mi-8.

In order to raise the quality of flight training, the Division has concentrated on completing its organisational structure, holding refresher courses for flight commanding cadres, instructors, and pilots, and deploying good cadres to attend the training course on flight commanding theories at the Air Defence - Air Force Academy held by the Service. As for complex lessons on flying new, modern aircraft, the Division has selected elite pilots to train others. With reference to training on the ground, the Division has focused on improving young pilots’ professional knowledge and skills, organising refresher courses to better pilots’ capabilities in commanding and guiding flights and training new soldiers and the reserve force in military line-up regulations. Furthermore, the Division has regularly grasped and strictly executed the directives on combat readiness by the Service Commander and required its affiliates to stringently maintain combat readiness regimes to avoid falling into passivity or missing opportunities of combat. On a yearly basis, units of the Division have proactively supplemented, perfected, and closely practised combat plans and projects, while designing situations to train pilots and enhance their command capacity, combat coordination, and combat readiness. In the exercises held by the Ministry of National Defence and the Service, the Division has closely cooperated with forces within the Service and other units within defensive zones, thereby successfully fulfilling its task and contributing to raising its synergy and combat power as the basis for satisfying the task requirements in modern warfare. In 2020, all training bombings (BT-50) at the Shooting Range of Nhu Xuan were rated credit (20%) and distinction (80%).

Furthermore, the Division has placed special emphasis on stringently maintaining military discipline and standard order. In addition to educating its cadres and soldiers’ self-discipline, the Division has focused on raising troops’ observance of commanders’ orders, training ground regulations, and military standard order during the training process. Due regard has been paid to heightening the role model-setting responsibility, requiring superiors, key cadres, offices, cadres, and party members to set good examples for subordinates, units, soldiers, and the masses to follow, and strictly maintaining the daily, weekly regulations on study and work. Various measures have been taken to inspect and manage the Division’s strength, ensure discipline, particularly on days off and in rest hours, resolutely prevent, combat, and stringently deal with violations of discipline and traffic safety.

The Division’s Party Committee and Command have directed offices and units to keep grasping and executing the Specialised Resolution on ensuring flight safety, and comply with the Regulations on flight and flight safety. Offices and units have proactively designed plans to ensure flight safety for each task. They have adopted synchronous measures to direct the training of flight safety relevant to each type of aircraft, organise meetings to draw lessons, closely carry out reviews after each flight, actively prevent flight accidents; therefore, the Division has always ensured the absolute safety of flight.

Additionally, the Division has frequently well performed the technical work to provide sufficient weapons and technical equipment for training, manoeuvre and combat in the event. This work plays a decisive role in the Division’s task performance. Currently, as the Division is using both old-fashioned and modern aircraft and equipment, this work becomes more important. Therefore, the Division’s Party Committee and Command have directed offices and units to regularly proactively surmount difficulties to provide technical support, particularly in terms of aviation, information, radar and flight safety for training and combat readiness. At the same time, they have required technical offices and units’ technical branch to well realise plans on routine and regular maintenance, repair, maintain and replace components of aircraft under the regulations on flight safety as well as fight against all signs of oversimplification, subjectivity, and carelessness during the technical work. Due attention has been paid to encouraging troops to proactively study and master modern weapons and technical equipment, especially the new-generation aircraft. The Division has enhanced the emulation movement to promote technical initiatives and innovations to make contributions to ensuring sufficient technical standards of the long-used materiel. It has also carried out technical inspections in a serious, close, procedural manner. Prior to each flight, cadres have inspected and handed over technical conditions in a close, procedural fashion. Aircraft would take off only when all technical conditions have been ensured.

To meet the requirements set by the Homeland construction and defence in the new period, cadres and soldiers of the Division 370 will keep bringing into play the glorious tradition of a Hero of the People’s Armed Forces, improving their political zeal and professional knowledge to master the existing weapons and technical equipment, successfully fulfil their task, and greatly contribute to building a revolutionary, regular, elite, modern Air Defence - Air Force Service capable of firmly protecting the Homeland’s airspace.

Sr. Col. TA QUANG THAO, Commander of the Division