Tank Brigade 201 (under the Tank and Armoured Corps) is the first unit ever entrusted by the Tank and Armoured Corps and the Ministry of National Defence (MND) with the task of managing, exploiting, and using the most advanced materiel of the army-wide tank and armoured force. This privilege carries with it an honour and weighty responsibilities, especially in the context of building an elite, compact, and strong Army towards modernity. Recognising the importance of this mission, while making an effort to streamline organisational structures, the Brigade’s Party Committee and commanders have recently concentrated their leadership and direction on breakthrough training missions in a bid to master new weaponry and equipment. They have identified this as the focal point of training endeavours with the aim of bolstering combat strength and building an elite, compact, and strong unit, successfully completing all assigned tasks.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh encourage crew members of T90S tanks in “ĐT-23” exercise

The modern generation of weaponry and equipment, particularly for the tank and armoured force, is characterised by a high level of scientific sophistication, cutting-edge technical and tactical features, and the integration of various modern technologies. Therefore, exploiting and mastering these complex systems presents significant challenges that demand not only resolute determination and dedication, but also genuine knowledge and capabilities of cadres and soldiers. In light of these complexities, the Brigade has initially focused on strengthening political and ideological education, raising awareness and responsibility among cadres and soldiers regarding this crucial task. To this end, while proactively issuing relevant guiding documents for the sake of practical efficacy, the Brigade has formulated specialised resolutions to guide the reception, training, and mastery of new weapons and equipment via synchronised and practical solutions. The Brigade has required its offices and units to educate their cadres and soldiers, especially those directly involved in training missions on the purpose and significance of training to master new materiel. For the sake of high effectiveness, comprehensive education has been conducted extensively across all levels and branches, integrating regular education with specialised training under the Heroic Tank and Armoured Corps’ motto “Once deployed, victory is assured”. Simultaneously, emphasis has been placed on fostering military democracy and providing opportunities for cadres and soldiers to engage in discussion and propose solutions to overcome difficulties and improve the quality of training in line with the new weapons and equipment.

Reality has shown that managing and mastering new weapons and equipment is highly complex and challenging, with significant differences from older generations. Compounding these challenges is the limited number of trained technical personnel available for knowledge transfer, inadequate training facilities, and qualified logistics-technical support. Against this backdrop, the Brigade has concentrated on proper training preparations, in terms of personnel and material resources, to quickly exploit and master the new weaponry and equipment. Upon receiving the task, the Brigade has promptly reviewed and selected capable personnel from various units, including those who had undergone overseas training to form the core of the new equipment training team. Simultaneously, attention has been paid to developing and executing training plans for the remaining members. Training content has been designed to cover the organisation and methods of training, as well as the technical features, tactics, and combat techniques of the new weapons and equipment. To ensure this core force would possess the necessary capabilities, the Brigade has sent cadres to participate in training sessions organised by the Corps and conducted intensive on-site training simultaneously. Emphasis has been placed on establishing specialised instructor teams for each training area, such as driving, firing, communications, maintenance, and simulation. These instructors have been tasked with conducting in-depth research to ensure expertise in their respective fields.

Alongside personnel-related preparation, the Brigade has focused on ensuring all aspects of training for new weaponry, particularly training schedules, lesson plans, and academic support utilities. A notable change in the operational paradigm of new-generation weaponry is the reduction in crew size, necessitating more versatile skills set from each operator. Therefore, the Brigade has developed an exclusive training curriculum in compliance with the foundational program set forth by the MND, seeking approval from higher echelons to ensure its validity and applicability. Additionally, the Brigade has worked with higher-level functional agencies to translate and compile documents, diagrams, and images of the new weapons, creating a separate training curriculum with scientific and consistent standards. Consideration has been given to actively mobilising resources and focusing on investing in and renovating training grounds, training sites, and classrooms in line with the features of the new weapons and equipment. In the implementation process, units have emphasised encouraging and motivating specialised personnel to participate in the movement of initiatives and technical innovation to serve the training on the new weapons. Over the past two years, the Brigade has had 15 technical innovation initiatives, many of which have been applied to enhance the quality of training for mastering the new weapons and equipment. Examples include a specialised tool for calibrating the 12.7mm machine gun sight, a smoke grenade circuit testing device, and a model for arranging ammunition on new-generation tanks.

Practising driving a tank onto a tank transporter during training

To quickly facilitate the mastery of new and modern armaments, the Brigade has adhered to the motto “Basics, practicality, solidity”, directing comprehensive and in-depth training with a focus on technical and tactical training, dedicating significant time to training on special features of the new equipment, such as the active and passive protection system, large-scale weapon defence system, and fire control system, etc. Given that each crew member has independent responsibilities, the Brigade has organised training classes by groups with suitable content to ensure effectiveness. For vehicle commanders and gunner-operators, great value has been attached to mastering communication and coordination systems, fire control system, and specialised equipment on vehicles. For drivers, training has gone in-depth on operating and exploiting engine features, steering system, practising driving on complex terrains, and overcoming various obstacles. The training process has progressed from basic to advanced levels, with an emphasis on practice. The Brigade has promoted the role of crew members who had participated in international military competitions in guiding and sharing their hands-on experiences in operating the new equipment. The training has been aimed at enabling troops to have a firm grasp of theories, understand the structure of the new weapons and equipment, and practise on simulators before transitioning to real equipment. Additionally, the Brigade has strictly maintained post-training reviews and allocated time for crew members to exchange ideas, discuss, and enhance their self-study and mutual learning. To further the mastery of the new equipment, the Brigade has actively organised Russian language courses for cadres and soldiers at all levels. These courses have been centred on key and practical content to facilitate understanding, research, and mastery of the technical features, structure, and rules of use of the equipment. This foundation is crucial for cadres, professional service men and women, and soldiers to enhance their foreign language proficiency in service of fully mastering the new weapons and equipment.

The Brigade has closely integrated combat training with technical training, thus bolstering the proficiency in technical maintenance operations. This approach requires cadres and crew members to be proficient not only in command and combat but also in understanding the structure of equipment, technical parameters, and methods to repair common malfunctions. To this end, the Brigade has adopted various measures to improve the quality of technical maintenance training at all levels, with significance attached to building a contingent of technicians capable of mastering technologies for the preservation, maintenance, and repair of new equipment and weapons according to their areas of responsibility. Since 2022, the Brigade has organised 6 training sessions to enhance the skills of all technical staff in the exploitation, preservation, and repair of new weapons and equipment. As a result, the Brigade’s technical staff members are now fully capable of ensuring the technical quality of new weapons, ready to repair minor and moderate malfunctions, thereby maintaining optimal technical readiness for training purposes.

With high determination and scientific solutions, the Brigade has yielded significant achievements in the mastery of new weaponry and equipment. Annually, 100% of the Brigade’s troops met the requirements in all subjects, with 85% rated as good or excellent. The officers and soldiers in the team equipped with new materiel has always been the backbone of the Vietnamese Tank Team participating in the Army Games, earning commendable results and enhancing the stature of the Vietnamese Tank Soldiers on the international stage. The Brigade has also successfully completed the task of serving activities of defence foreign affairs of the Party, State, and MND, as well as participated in exhibitions and displays. Notably, in 2023, the Brigade used new weapons and equipment for the first time to participate in the joint military exercise with Army Corps 12 (DT-23), achieving excellent results with 100% of the assigned targets being destroyed on the first shot, ensuring absolute safety. This performance earned the Brigade a Certificate of Merit from the MND.

These initial accomplishments reflect the Brigade’s will, determination, and unwavering commitment to mastering the armaments and honing the command interoperability and combat strength, serving as an important source of encouragement and motivation for the Brigade to continue to master state-of-the-art weaponry and equipment, ensuring its readiness to excel in all tasks. This steadfast progress contributes to building an “elite, compact, strong” Tank and Armoured Corps, deserving to be the main assault force of the Vietnamese infantry force, meeting the requirements of Fatherland protection under any circumstances.

Sr. Col. VU MANH TU

Commander of the Brigade