Maintaining the “lifeblood” of communication is one of the determinants to the success in military operations. This is especially significant in combat scenarios within maritime and island environments, where this mission holds paramount importance and encounters numerous challenges and complexities, requiring careful attention and study.

In the event of a (potential) war to defend the Homeland, maritime and island defence operations are a strategic form of combat aimed at thwarting enemy advances at sea, securing the nation’s islands and waters. The primary targets on the maritime and island battleground are the adversary’s joint forces employing weapons and equipment with modern and advanced technology and large-scale cyber and electronic warfare operations. Therefore, ensuring seamless, timely, and robust communication for our combat forces is a fundamental and decisive requirement for victory. Recognising this, in recent years, the Party, the State, and the Military have focused on fortifying the defence of the maritime and island regions. This includes the gradual development and modernisation of infrastructure, equipment, and plans for communication support. However, the characteristics of maritime and island defence operations involve a wide scope, diverse participating forces, a unique combat environment, and the work of communication support must cater for numerous forces and tasks in different areas with intense, urgent, and highly complex nature. Therefore, to maintain communication, it is essential to implement synchronised solutions regarding the issues of organisational structure, command, operation, and coordination among various forces. This article discusses several solutions to leverage the comprehensive strength of the signal forces in maritime and island defence operations.

First, closely coordinate to leverage the specialties and strengths of each signal force. This is a crucial solution that determines the outcome of the mission of ensuring communication both in peacetime and during military operations. On the maritime and island front, we have various signal forces, both military and civilian, operating together. To harness the comprehensive strength of these signal forces, the Signal Corps must actively assess and thoroughly research the actual situation regarding forces, equipment, facilities, and technical infrastructure for communication in each region and area. Based on this, it should provide recommendations to the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence, coordinate with relevant ministries and sectors to invest in building and developing telecommunication systems, prioritising key maritime and island areas. In particular, emphasis should be placed on developing a dual-use communication system that serves both economic and social development and is ready to support national defence and security operations in critical situations. For civilian communication systems, especially the telecommunications networks of businesses in coastal and maritime regions, planning and construction should be done in a unified and closely linked manner with military communication systems, aligning with various combat scenarios. Priority should be given to developing communication networks for the defence of provinces, coastal cities, island districts, especially the Spratly Sa Islands. The military communication system, currently organised and deployed by region, must meet regular the requirements and tasks and be ready for combat in each area. This includes the military signal forces directly supporting maritime and island defence operations, such as signal units of the Ministry of National Defence, coastal military regions, and military services: navy, air defence - air force, coast guard, and regional defence forces of provinces and coastal cities. To maximise the strengths of each signal force in fulfilling its mission, the planning and deployment of radio relay stations and fiber optics along the coastline, and islands can be sped up to establish communication links with combat units in distant maritime and island areas. For islands, archipelagos, and platforms, we should continue to maximise the effectiveness of the communication system deployed for combat from peacetime, focusing on using landline communication to maintain contact between forces in the combat formation on the islands. At the same time, it is necessary to give importance to using various communication networks, including electronic warfare information systems, satellite communication, especially secure wireless communication networks, to connect islands in the region with combat forces at sea and on the mainland. On the other hand, in the process of ensuring communication, the signal forces need to maximise the effectiveness of modern, advanced communication means, combining the use of traditional means to support and enhance sustainability of the operation. In addition, there is a need to implement a close integration of on-site communication support with mobile communication operation to form a solid area-based communication system.

Second, strengthen training, joint exercises, and drills to enhance the communication support capabilities of the forces. Maritime and island defence is a strategic task, with the core forces being the navy, air defence, air force, coast guard, coastal military regions, and related forces. Over the years, alongside the training, development, and establishment of communication forces at various levels, we have organised numerous exercises and drills of different scales and forms of combat. However, through the practical experience gained from these exercises, signal forces primarily focus on ensuring specific tasks for their own units and forces, with limited coordination in communication support between different units. Therefore, to improve the communication support capabilities for maritime and island defence operations, along with enhancing the quality of training and mastering communication technology equipment, especially new, modern, and high-tech types, there is a need to increase the organisation of exercises, joint training, and drills based on various combat scenarios in different maritime and island regions. Emphasis should be placed on coordinating plans for communication support in key maritime and island areas, particularly in island and archipelago defence, and fighting enemy manoeuvring at sea and foreign invasion forces attempting to capture maritime territories. To achieve the set goals and requirements, during the training and joint exercises, units need to focus on improving the leadership skills in maintaining communication between the mainland and the combat forces at sea, on islands, and in archipelagos. Night training should be intensified, and joint exercises should ensure communication between the navy and coastal military regions, as well as with support branches, units, and sectors directly involved in combat to meet the demands of modern warfare for maritime and island defence.

Third, enhance the acquisition of modern, synchronised communication equipment, ensuring readiness to meet the requirements and tasks of combat. Research on recent regional war and military conflict worldwide indicates that, even in the initial stages, communication systems are always a focal point targeted for destruction by firepower and electronic countermeasures to disrupt the opponent’s information flow. This reality underscores the crucial significance of modern communication equipment alongside human factors. Following our current strategy of military modernisation, in recent years, the Signal Corps has been supplemented with numerous new and advanced communication equipment and tools. However, compared to the set requirements, there are still limitations, and in practice, the current communication equipment and assets in use consist of various types and generations, making connectivity and synchronisation challenging.

To ensure communication in maritime and island operations in the coming period, alongside refining the organisation and structure towards building an “elite, compact, strong, flexible” signal force, there is a need to research, manufacture, upgrade, and procure modernised communication equipment and assets suitable for each level, creating a transformation in quality to meet modern combat requirements. Such new communication equipment and assets should include: new-generation portable satellite communication systems and multifrequency, high-power radio systems at the strategic and operational levels and in key directions and regions. In addition, priority should be given to ensuring tactical-grade satellite and smart radio equipment for the islands in the Spratly Islands, offshore platforms, naval vessels, and mobile forces engaged in sea operations. Besides, on the mainland and islands near the coast, efforts should be concentrated on developing transmission systems and adding optic grids for naval regions, coastal artillery and missile units, air defence and air force units, and provincial and city defence zones in coastal areas. Furthermore, it is essential to commission more mobile platforms equipped with satellite, radio, wired, and fiber-optic communication systems to establish communication nodes to maintain contact between combat forces in maritime and island areas, including forces engaged in mine and bomb clearance, torpedo sweeping, and logistical and technical support. For distant islands and island districts, the focus should be on building synchronised communication infrastructure and networks, ready to support maritime combat forces. Particularly on remote islands, signal forces need to establish a robust and highly independent communication posture and ensure the appropriate deployment of reserve signal forces. Additionally, priority should be given to using new-generation shortwave radio communication systems and fixed visat stations for islands, archipelagos, offshore platforms, and forces protecting maritime routes and coastal economic centers. Besides, there should be efforts to establish multiple-purpose stations on islands near the coast to relay communication to combat units in distant maritime and island areas. In the process of equipment supplementation, prioritising radio stations with electronic warfare resistance capabilities, integrated multiple functions, high endurance and all-weather features is essential.

Fourth, supplement mechanisms and regulations for mobilising and commanding communication support task. Mobilising and utilising human resources and infrastructure of the telecommunication sector from ministries, departments, industries, businesses, localities, etc., for general national defence tasks and specifically ensuring maritime and island defence is an extremely crucial and necessary mission. Therefore, in the coming time, the Signal Corps Command needs to continue advising the Ministry of National Defence to survey and evaluate the mobilisation capabilities of various ministries, departments, and telecommunications businesses to develop plans for mobilising human resources and telecommunications infrastructure for approval by the Prime Minister. In addition, there should be efforts to collaborate with ministries, departments, industries, and localities to review and clearly define targets, quantities, and timeframes, and organise the command and handover of manpower and telecommunications infrastructure for national defence and security tasks. Besides, it is essential to continue researching and improving the coordination mechanism of communication support activities among naval, air defence - air force, border guard, fisheries surveillance, coast guard units, and communication elements of businesses in different areas based on the principle of prioritising activities that serve combat missions, ensuring communication support for their respective operations while also ensuring communication for their designated functions and tasks.

Ensuring communication support in maritime and island defence operations is a highly specialised, challenging and complex task. Therefore, this issue needs to continue to be studied thoroughly to lay the groundwork for the preparation and implementation of robust communication support in (potential) combat operations to defend the sacred maritime sovereignty of the Homeland.

Senior Colonel, Dr. NGUYEN TRONG VINH, Deputy Rector of the Signal College