The new requirements of the task of building the Military and safeguarding the Fatherland together with rapid development in the military science, technology and technical equipment leading to the advent of new combat methods have revealed shortcomings in the organisation of the Military Technique. Hence, it is necessary to do research to develop theories on organising the Military Technique.

Armaments and humans are two fundamental factors to decide the combat power of the Military; of which, human factor plays a decisive role. However, due to the drastic development of science and technology, the importance of armament has been heightened and been clearly the vital factor in the battlefields. In order to bring into full play this factor, many armed forces in the world have made specific steps to improve and adjust the technical factor. For our country, the organisation of the Military Technique (hereinafter referred to as the Technique) has been built and developed fully from strategic level to operational level to tactical level, and adjusted and consolidated suitably with the organisation, tasks, and development of the Military in each revolutionary stage, importantly contributing to the success of the cause of liberating the nation, building and safeguarding the Fatherland.

Presently, with the development of the military theories, combat methods, armament and the goal of building the “elite, compact and strong” Military, the organisation of the Technique has revealed some inadequacies which need to be theoretically researched to add and complete in order to successfully accomplish the assigned tasks. This article focuses on some researches, discusses several contents on theoretical foundations and suggests the ways to overcome these shortcomings in the present organisation of the Technique, which is shown in some main contents as follows:

Firstly, organising the Technique in accordance with the general organisation of the Military, but with clearly-defined functions and duties related to  armament. So far, the integration of equipment and technical support in our Military hasn't been done like most other armed forces in the world. Fields of production management of technical equipment, technical cadres’ training, technical research and management, technical mobilisation, etc. have been tasked to other non-technical offices. As a matter of fact, the Technical leading offices have just taken responsibility for organising the technical support for equipment, in other tasks, they need to coordinate to give directions in different levels.

The reality of recent wars shows that the more modern the technical equipment is, the more complex the support requirements will be; the work of technique and technical support requires to be quick and always in advance; the relationship between combat and support seems to be closer and more mutually dependent than ever. In such a condition, the present management and direction of activities related to technical equipment has raised difficulties for the technical work; the generality, synchronicity and timeliness in consulting and solving problems related to high-tech-applied technical equipment haven’t been optimised. Hence, it is necessary to clearly define for each related organ the functions, tasks, working and coordination methods whether there is an adjustment of organisation or not. Especially, it is necessary to set up an organ in the Staff Department in the General Department of Technology having the functions and authority to deal with technical activities which does not belong to the General Department to assist the General Department, as the leading department of military technical work   in their consulting with the Defence Ministry about the entire technical work in the Military.

Secondly, organising the technical majors in accordance with the production features of the technical equipment, assuring the non-overlapped and duplicated tasks in organising systems of technical organs. Defining the technical majors is a key factor in organising the technical industry. Presently, this definition has been done concurrently with the characteristics of technical equipment, including the production technology (majors of vehicles - machines, weapons - ammunition, tanks – armours, etc.) and task-using functions (air defence – air force, navy, engineering, communications, etc.), which is normally called the definition of majors due to the administrative features (according to the Regulations of the Technical work, which has been partially adjusted and hasn’t been implemented yet). With the development of the high-tech armament, and the popularity of its combination and integration, the definition of majors due to the administrative features, though having a close relationship between the staff commanding and technical work, has caused the duplication, even the overlap in the technical support for equipment of similar production technology in arms and services, and in different majors. On the contrary, many types of high-tech technical equipment under the management of staff, political and logistic organs (such as simulation, training, broadcast, printing, petrol, medical equipment, etc.) haven’t been regarded as the technical equipment and the technical support has been absolutely provided by the manufacturers, meanwhile the Technique could be able to provide the solutions and assistances for many relevant problems including: education, training, exploitation and technical support.

To define the technical majors due to the production features, it is necessary to approach from 3 angles: (1) Clearly specifying the production technology and classifying the technical equipment using this technology into one major; (2) Specifying and adjusting some authorities related to the equipment support and exploitation by the military leading heads (services, arms) and all-level commanders; adjusting parts of functions and duties of the technical leading heads; (3) Establishing the relationship and the working mechanism between the technical heads (who are responsible for technical support) and the military heads and unit commanders (who are responsible for providing equipment, classifying the using groups, training in the tactical formations, exploiting the technical equipment for tasks, inspecting the technical conditions for tasks, building technical forces and vehicles, etc.). The organisation of the Technique according to the production technology features of the technical equipment will help to control the extended organisation and investment into the technical facilities, focus the investment of technology and human resources into specifically technical support to establish the system of inter-arm supports which can cover all types of technical equipment used in the Military. However, in this way, a technical major will relate to many operational activities of the military majors, which requires the absolutely close combination and coordination in order to successfully accomplish the assigned tasks.

Thirdly, organising the Technique which can meet the demands for the technical support of multi-generational equipment, including the high-tech-applied equipment as the core. Our Military has been managing and using many types of technical equipment, including both old and new ones, of which the old take the majority and the replacement hasn’t been as early as considered. As a matter of fact, the Technique has well responded to the support of the old equipment, however, there have been many difficulties and challenges with that of new and modern ones. To meet the demands, it is necessary to newly plan and organise the Technique or assign tasks for organisations (offices, research institutes, academies, schools, centres) to strengthen the staff and facilities to fully do their tasks of managing and coordinating the activities of high-tech techniques for all technical majors, researching, exploiting, educating, training and transferring technology of technical support for the high-tech technical equipment, researching to manufacture new technical equipment and materials, organising the systems of technological database and infrastructure for the management of technical equipment according to their lifecycle and for the digital transmission, etc. Immediately, it is necessary to establish the leading High Tech Centre (in the Military Technology Academy) playing a key role in researching, exploiting and training the mastery of high-tech technical equipment, internship institutes for training high-tech staff and technicians of all fields; and assist the technical support for equipment of all fields. Besides, it is also necessary to research to establish the aligned centres of technical services, etc. to meet the task requirements in the new situation.

Fourthly, building the technical offices and institutes which are regular, synchronous to each major, have suitable size and capability of managing and leading by levels and managing, directing and supporting by the major. So far, in comparison with the staff, politics and logistics, the organisation of the Technique with its functions of managing all majors hasn’t been synchronous at all three levels (strategic, operational and tactical). When reorganising the technical majors according to the technological features of technical equipment, the organisation and management of majors by the technical offices at all three levels have been more advantageous and feasible. Accordingly, the all-level chiefs of technique (logistics - technique) have conditions and ability to take responsibility and carry out the tasks correctly. However, it is necessary to make careful research before organising what majors in each office. For strategic and operational level, in some necessary cases, it must establish the departments in strategic level, and offices or sections in operational level to make sure the capability of finishing the tasks, it is not because of decreasing the offices to concentrate all majors into one office, making it impossible to deal with assigned tasks. In institutions of major repairs, it is necessary to organise due to specific majors, but their activities are interdisciplinary with the coordination of the central office and the intense management from the general department. In institutions of medium repairs, the main depots, measure and audit offices are managed by the majors. For tactical level, it is necessary to build organisations which have intense, general and high mobility to meet the demands for on-site and mobile technical support, forming the technical support for the entire regions. Systems of repairing institutions, depots, measurement and audit have been organised generally to meet the united commanding demands of the chiefs of technique (logistics – technique), the united plans of the logistic – technical staff offices, and the unity of all majors. In this level, it is possible to organise the systems of technical-support institutions in forms of combat units (regiments, brigades, battalions, companies, etc.) in order to be ready for moving in combat conditions.

Researching to develop theories on organising the Military Technique in the new situation is an important issue containing many difficulties and challenges, which needs to be joined by many functional offices and scientists to contribute to the improvement of quality and effectiveness of the technical work, meeting the requirements and task of safeguarding the Fatherland.

Major General, Assoc. Prof, Dr. PHAM DUNG TIEN