The High-Tech Telecommunication Centre (HTC) under the Signal Corps, founded on September 27^th, 1976 is a strategic-level signal assurance unit tasked with giving scientific and technological advice to the Signal Corps’ Party Committee and Command, providing technical support for the military signal system and information technology equipment, upgrading, designing, and trialling spare parts of military signal equipment, formulating the procedure for exploiting, maintaining, and repairing technical equipment, and drawing up specialised documents for training signal cadres and employees across the Military. Over the past 45 years, with their knowledge, enthusiasm, responsibility, and tireless effort, generations of the HTC’s cadres, technical employees, and soldiers have always been in the Corps’ vanguard of scientific research and mastery over signal equipment and new signal technologies, making significant contributions to the modernisation of the military signal system.

To keep pace with the rapid development of the information technology and telecommunication revolution, the HTC has quickly given advice to the Signal Corps on designing the signal system, while approaching hi-tech signal equipment to ensure the work of signal support towards modernity. Since 2016, the HTC has completed 10 signal projects and 87 signal works, developed 296 signal stations with good quality, directly fixed 3,639 malfunctions of technical equipment, repaired 6,312 pieces of technical equipment, manufactured 5,870 pieces of technical equipment, designed and successfully applied 20 technical products and innovations, thereby making contributions to remaining self-sufficient in equipment and materials for the work of technical support, saving hundreds of billions of VND, and reducing dependence on foreign manufacturers. With those remarkable achievements, the HTC has been given the Third-Class Labour Order, the Second-Class Homeland Protection Order, and many other noble rewards by the State.

Commander of the Signal Corps inspecting the HTC

To obtain those good results, the HTC has actively, proactively implemented many measures synchronously, with priority given to stepping up scientific research and mastering technical equipment. First of all, the HTC’s Party Committee and Command have focused their leadership and direction on enhancing scientific research and mastering modern equipment, technologies, and research methods. This measure plays a decisive role in ensuring that the work of scientific research will always be developed in a proper, extensive, and continuous manner at all levels. Grasping and executing higher echelons’ resolutions and directives, grounded on the Centre’s function and task, the HTC’s Party Committee has always put the work of scientific research at the forefront of its yearly Resolution. Based on the 10-year execution of the Strategy to develop the military signal system in the period of 2011-2020 and the orientations for modernising technical equipment under the Signal Corps’ Strategy to develop the military signal system in the period of 2020-2030, with a vision towards 2045, the HTC has designed and implemented 5-year and annual research plans, while directing its competent offices to complete, standardise, and strictly maintain scientific-technological procedures. It has stepped up a reform in managing, organising, and operating scientific-technological activities together with a transform from width into depth and application of high technologies. In the process, it has frequently adjusted mechanisms of coordination, maintained a balance of resources between sections (technological research, technical support, and assembly), and diversified forms of research, such as self-research, research group, experience sharing, technological transfer, and research cooperation with other research facilities and centres both inside and outside the Military in order to grasp and apply new signal technologies of the region and the world. At the same time, it has directed its offices and units to raise their cadres and technical employees’ awareness of the importance of scientific research, supplement and complete regulations and policies on commendation to encourage the development of feasible scientific ideas, drastically take measures to manage and supervise programmes and projects, and resolutely avoid wastefulness and a lack of efficiency. As a result, the movement of scientific research and mastery over modern equipment and technologies within the HTC has developed both widely and deeply. Cadres taking part in the Army-wide Creative Youth Awards have won high prizes (25 first, second, and third prizes at the Ministerial level). More importantly, one research of the HTC has won the second place in the Science and Technology Creativity Contest - VIFOTECH, while another one has been praised at the National Youth Festival, making significant contributions to raising the quality of military signal assurance and meeting the task requirements in both peacetime and wartime.

It should be noted that the HTC is a top information technology research centre of the Military and it plays a vanguard role in modernising the military signal system. In order to build a revolutionary, regular, elite, modern Signal Corps, the HTC has synchronously, comprehensively, effectively carried out the work of scientific research, developed a modern military signal system, and gradually gained autonomy in the military signal system capable of smoothly connecting with civilian telecommunication services. To that end, the HTC has focused on resolving the two issues as follows.

First, apply science and technology to upgrading technical equipment and the signal system, and develop forms and methods of communication, signal security, cyber warfare, and automated command. Doing so would make a very important contribution to developing the military signal system as the basis for modernising the Military. In recent years, the HTC has proactively given advice to the Signal Corps and the Ministry of National Defence on building an independent military transmission network, upgrading the military data transmission network, connecting with the VSAT data transmission network, replacing equipment of the optical cable lines of 1A and QC, and designing the project to adjust the strategic-level radio system, thus making considerable contributions to realising “the Strategy to develop the military signal system in the period of 2011-2020” within the Signal Corps and across the Military.

Second, research into technical support, design, and trial production. In response to the high price of imported spare parts and dependence on foreign manufacturers, causing a lot of difficulties for technical support, the HTC has transformed from application of platform technologies for technical support into gradual “localisation” and manufacture of spare parts of the military signal system and new-generation equipment so as to be proactive in technical support. Since 2018, it has researched and successfully trialled 6 products whose technical and tactical features had been approved by the Ministry of National Defence, while 4 products have been granted the Certificate of Defence Product Design and 9 others have been manufactured in bulk. At the same time, it has participated in providing pieces of domestically-produced equipment with their features equivalent to the exported ones for the campaign-level and tactical signal system, thereby step by step being self-sufficient in technical equipment. It has designed over 100 documents and 54 technological procedures for training technical staff members of units across the Military to transfer and exploit the signal system.

In addition to those above-mentioned measures, the HTC has cooperated with competent offices in developing a contingent of technical cadres and top experts. Besides, significance has been attached to building a pool of commanding officers, technical cadres, and researchers to maintain stability and development in the personnel work. To that end, it has formulated procedures for the personnel work, enhanced job rotation amongst its staff members at all levels, monitored and correctly evaluated its cadres’ capacity and qualities as the basis for the positions of command, technical management, and research. It has closely collaborated with functional offices in advising the Signal Corps’ Party Committee and Command on projects to recruit foreign-trained cadres, graduates from universities and academies both inside and outside the Military, and experienced technical cadres with capability in independent research from units across the Corps to develop high-quality and stable human resources. Due regard has been paid to improving technical staff members’ knowledge. In addition to sending its cadres to universities and academies both inside and outside the Military for postgraduate education, the HTC organised on-the-spot refresher courses, with a focus on field-programmable gate array (FPGA), Acorn RISC Machine (ARM), digital signal processing (DSP), and software defined radio (SDR). Doing so has enabled the HTC to build a contingent of technical cadres and top experts capable of mastering state-of-the-art signal equipment and software. Up to now, it has 3 Doctors, 44 Masters of Science, and 32 engineers, and many of them are on the way to becoming top experts in the military telecommunication field as the core force in developing its research work to meet the task requirements in both long and medium terms.

Bringing into play the recorded achievements, in the upcoming time, the HTC will continue enhancing scientific research and mastering technical equipment to contribute to successfully implementing the Signal Corps’ Strategy to develop the military signal system in the period of 2020-2030, with a vision towards 2045, deserve to be a top centre in the military signal field, and meet the requirements set by the building of a revolutionary, regular, elite, and modern Signal Corps.

Sr. Col. HO XUAN HO, Director of the HTC