The 370th Air Division, one of the units invested to advance towards modernity, is tasked with training, combat readiness, protecting the airspace, seas, islands and the continental shelf from the 14th parallel to the Southernmost part of the Homeland. Besides, the Division also takes part in pilot transformation training at all types; search and rescue; special flights for leaders of the Party, State, Military to inspect key areas among other unexpected tasks. In the past few years, on implementing the guideline of building the “revolutionary, regular, highly-skilled and modernised” Air Defence – Air Force Service, the Division has been given several modern aircraft, weapons and technical equipment. This has helped gradually improve its combat power. However, in its execution of tasks, the Division has encountered many difficulties because of training on various types of aircraft, for many participants, with high intensity and requirements in the absence of specialised instructors. Meanwhile, its units are stationed in different locations with large working scales and wide protective targets. Together with the new and modern vehicles and equipment, the Division has managed many types of aircraft which have been used for years with low technical synchronicity and stability, even damages; the support of equipment and replacement supplies have been limited; officers’ and soldiers’ families have met ranges of difficulties, etc.
Facing that reality, in order to successfully accomplish the assigned tasks, the Division has synchronously implemented solutions, attentively led and directed the improvement of the combat training quality and flight safety, achieved positive results and been highly appreciated by the Ministry of National Defence and the Air Defence-Air Force Service.
The main character of the air force training is to use modern technical vehicles with high speed in highly-intense activities, which may cause the intensely psychological stress; the fast situations require skillful and accurate actions, high independence in complex weather and meteorological conditions and with high rate of unsafety. Therefore, the Division has paid attention to the political and ideological training; strengthened the effectiveness and efficiency of the party and political work in the training. To achieve results, the Division has directed the units to attentively reform the education contents and methods; closely combined the basic and regular education with the task-oriented education, the education of new contents and requirements with the passing of combat experience. At the same time, the Division has enhanced the emulation activities, combined the Determined-to-win Emulation Movement with the campaign on Promoting traditions, devoting talents and deserving to be “Uncle Ho’s Soldiers” in the new era, etc., through which to unify the awareness, build the motives and determination, heighten the officers’ and soldiers’ responsibility, and that of the pilots in particular in their training tasks; consolidate the soldiers’ belief in the existing weapons and equipment, bring into play the tradition of “daring to fight, knowing to fight and being determined to win” in the new conditions; overcome the difficulties to master the new weapons and technical equipment, repair the thought of relying on others, simplification and subjectiveness in obeying the safety precautions and discipline of training.
Together, the Division has strengthened the leadership and direction by all-level party committees and commands on the tasks of training and flight safety. On the basis of thoroughly grasping the seniors’ resolutions, directions and instructions, especially Resolution No. 1659-NQ/QUTW, dated 20 December 2022 by the Central Military Commission; Resolution No. 877-NQ/ĐU, dated 09 March 2023 by the Service’s Party Committee and the Training Order by the Service Commander, the Division’s Party Committee has issued Resolution No. 803-NQ/ĐU, dated 22 March 2023 on improving the training quality in the 2023-2030 period and the following years. The Resolution has highlighted: “Appreciating the training, which is synchronous, specialised, task-oriented, practical to situations, objects and combat areas; the mastery of the existing weapons and facilities; taking the flight training as the core, the cadres’ training as the key; the flight safety as the vital factor deciding the Division’s combat power”. To carry out the above policy, the Division has required the all-level party committees and commands to highly take the roles and responsibility for their leadership and management of the combat training tasks, focusing on the flight training and flight safety. Accordingly, the party committees and commands at all levels have paid attention to stages of planning, execution connected to the summaries, learning from experience and overcoming the achievement disease in training, at the same time, directed the offices and units to enhance the renovation of training contents, programmes and plans, lesson plans and documents on directing exercises; combine the training quality improvement with the flight safety; attentively do the investment and preparation; specifically assign tasks to each party committee.
In recent years, as the Division’s training tasks have been developed to meet the requirements and be suitable with types of the existing aircraft, weapons, equipment and new combat tactics of the enemies, the Division has attentively reformed the training drastically and comprehensively. At first, the Division has reformed the mechanism of direction, operation and management, enhanced the echelon, placed the responsibility on all-level offices and commanders, and improved the coordination among offices and units in their advising, directing and implementing the training, brought into play the overall strength, self-awareness and resilience, and mobilised all resources for the training. Regarding the contents, the Division has focused on new and complex flight lessons to improve the skills for pilots and crews including the basic 4-aircraft flying, combat situations on Su-22 and Su-30, flying lessons applied with the complex mobile combat in land, at sea or intercepting the violated aircraft, flying on narrow and short runways, landing on the DK-10 platform, LST ship, skyscrapers, taking off and landing on islands, hovering to search and rescue at sea, etc. Among them, the Division has extremely appreciated the improvement of problem-solving skills during the flights, concurrently, asked the instructors to take part in the advanced flying training programmes with specialists as the core for training the units. The Division has made much reform and breakthrough in training weapon handling. From using one type of weapon in each flight, the units have trained and used many of them; used many different tactical formations in 01 aircraft, 02 aircraft and 04 aircraft doing the firing and bombing in land or at sea during day and night to be practical to the combat reality. The Division has enhanced the training of flying lessons to consolidate the complex turning actions and techniques at low altitude, air combat flying; the training of using guided bombs and missiles and being ready to fire and bomb at sea for the helicopter pilots and crews; attentively trained the skills of keeping flying distance, mastery of new weapons and equipment and applying the technical initiatives, high technology into the flying activities. In terms of flying training methods, the Division has attentively reformed in a visual, creative, flexible and unmechanical way, taken practicality as the core, making them practical to the tasks, locations and operation objects; enhanced the cabin flying, learning, revising the theories and solving the problems for pilots. The Division has bravely brought jet pilots to practise some difficult flying lessons such as flying with firing, bombing, launching rockets at night at low and super-low altitude, tactical mobility of low-flying and high-dragging combined with firing with many types of thermal-noise or radio-jamming ammunitions exceeding the enemies’ anti-aircraft fire. Hence, the quality of flying training of the Division has gained much progress. Through the recent tests of new flying lessons using weapons and bombs, the Division has achieved good or excellent results, all units have gained the absolute safety.
To ensure the forces for combat readiness, the Division has paid attention to the pilot transformation training and education; forming the groups of instructing assistants to help young pilots, assigning experienced instructors to coach cadets; organising modeling flights by instructors in order to agree on flying contents and methods. At the end of the training programmes, the Division has organised advanced flights to assign pilots the duty of combat readiness. Besides, the Division has regularly coordinated closely with the units in the South to do the training and exercises of supporting fire, tactical troops landing in situations of combatting, preventing the riots and terrorism, intercepting aircraft trespassing the airspace; organised the opposing exercises between units within and beyond the Service. Through these exercises, the Division has learned from experience, adjusted the fighting arts, combatting methods, perfected the techniques and tactics to be the basis to improve the skills and combat power for all forces.
Together with flying training, other training of professional skills, regulations and physical fitness have also been strictly maintained. The Division has attentively made training for the duty crews of combat readiness, cabin-training for pilots, and training for cadres and technicians, at the same time, regularly educated and grasped for officers and soldiers to understand and strictly follow the State’s laws, the Defence Ministry’s directions and decisions and the seniors’ instructions on the regularity building, discipline management and safety assurance. Besides, the Division has directed the good implementation of training support; focused on the support of techniques, aviation, information, etc. During the past few years, the Division has seriously grasped and effectively implemented the seniors’ resolutions and directions on technical work, especially the Campaign 50; practically improved the reliability of the aviation equipment, maximally prevented the dangers to the flight safety, and assured the highest technical coefficient for the tasks; strictly maintained the discipline and the technical process in the flying organisation; enhanced the inspection in echelon in order to fully carry out the contents of the technical support; well received, stored, issued and used bombs, ammunitions, petrol, materials and training documents; closely coordinated among functional offices in mobilising and using weapons, materials and equipment; taken care of soldiers’ health, policies and standards to ensure the high rate of fitness for combat training.
To meet the increasingly high requirements of the duty of safeguarding the Homeland, the officers and soldiers of the 370th Air Division will continue to try and unite to overcome difficulties, and be determined to successfully accomplish the tasks of combat training and flight safety, making contribution to the improvement of its overall quality, combat power, and firmly safeguarding the seas, islands and the Southern territories of the Homeland in all situations.
Senior Colonel CU DUC HUONG, Division Commander