Under the Party’s sound and clever leadership, the Air Defence - Air Force has invested a lot of efforts in overcoming difficulties and hardships, adopting creative, unique combat methods, making resounding victories on the air front, and safeguarding the Homeland’s airspace, thereby greatly contributing to successfully fulfilling the revolutionary tasks together with the entire Party, Military and people, both in wartime and peacetime.

Being founded in the war, the Air Defence - Air Force Service and its components, namely the Anti-Aircraft Artillery, Air Force, Radar, and Missile were built and developed quickly. On the air front, the Air Defence - Air Force faced numerous difficulties and challenges and suffered from a lot of losses and sacrifices; the enemy had absolute superiority in the number and quality of means of wars with their extremely wicked plots and artifices. In that unequal fight, cadres and soldiers of the Air Defence - Air Force courageously “aimed their weapons directly at the enemy.” That motto by the Hero and Martyr Nguyen Viet Xuan became “immortal” and a sacred vow of air defence cadres and soldiers across the battlefields. Regardless of the enemy’s bombs and missiles being aimed at our targets, our artillerymen, cadres, and soldiers resiliently, calmly destroyed the enemy’s interference and “Shrike missiles.” Together with air defence cadres and soldiers’ combat determination, there were suicide flights deep into the areas under the enemy’s control when “one aircraft from our force had to fight against 36 others of the enemy” and “one aircraft would become an attacking direction” and readily turn into the “third missile” to annihilate the enemy.

The absolute loyalty to the Homeland, the Party, the State, and the people became the Air Defence - Air Force’s will and determination to surmount all difficulties and win numerous victories. No sooner had it been established than our Anti-Aircraft Artillery achieved a great feat of arms, controlled the airspace, cut off the enemy’s airlift, and protected our infantry and artillery units on the battlefield of Dien Bien Phu and our arterial line, thereby making great contributions to the glorious victory in the war against the French Colonialists. In the war against the US Air Force and Navy in the North, our Air Defence - Air Force always courageously, wisely, creatively gained many victories, particularly the miracle of “Hanoi - Dien Bien Phu in the air” which defeated the enemy’s B-52 air operation in 12 days and nights of late December 1972 and served as a determinant to the ultimate victory of the resistance war, ushering in a new period of the Vietnamese nation and revolution.

In the Spring 1975 General Offensive and Uprising, air defence units within the ground force formation successfully fulfilled the task of protecting our attacking formation while air units launched an airlift of military supplies. It should be noted that after a 6-day training course, the Determination to Win Squadron used aircraft obtained from the enemy to launch an air attack into the enemy’s den and cooperated with other forces and the entire people in completely liberating the South and unifying the country. Experiencing the challenging war years, the Air Defence - Air Force has built up its tradition of “absolute loyalty, resolute attack, unity, and collective feat of arms.”

Nowadays, in the task of constructing and protecting the Vietnamese Socialist Homeland, the Air Defence - Air Force has been keeping its vow to “be loyal to the Party and pious to the people, readily fight and sacrifice for national independence and socialism, fulfil any mission, overcome any difficulty, and defeat any enemy.” The Air Defence - Air Force’s mottos of “avoiding letting the Homeland fall into unexpected air situations” and “sacrificing everything for the defence of the Homeland’s airspace” together with numerous examples of sacrifice and fine deeds by soldiers of the Force across the country in the fights for protecting the national border and helping the Cambodian people to escape from genocide or the flights in natural disasters for helping and rescuing our compatriots have clearly, forcefully proved the Force’s absolute loyalty to the Party, the Homeland, and the people.

To promote the heroic tradition and fulfil the role as the core force on the air front for defending the Homeland’s airspace in all situations, the Air Defence - Air Force Service’s Party Committee and Command have directed affiliated units to grasp resolutions and directives by the Party, the Central Military Commission, and the Ministry of National Defence, with a focus on the 11^th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.8 on “the Strategy for the Homeland defence in the new situation,” Vietnam’s National Defence Strategy, Vietnam’s Military Strategy, the 12^th National Party Congress’ Resolution, the 10^th Military Party Congress’ Resolution, and the Resolution of the Service’s 9^th Party Congress. Due attention has been paid to building a comprehensively strong Service and making it politically strong as the basis for enhancing its synergy and combat strength and ensuring that the whole Service would be absolutely loyal to the Homeland, the Party, the State, the people, and the socialist regime. A focus has been placed on making the Service’s Party Organisation politically, ideologically, organisationally, and morally strong, enhancing the all-level party organisations and committees’ leadership and combativeness, and effectively executing the 12^th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No.4 on the Party building and rectification, the Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW and the Central Military Commission Standing Board’s Directive 87-CT/QUTW on studying and emulating Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle, and the Campaign entitled “promoting tradition, devoting talent, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers.” Significance has been attached to proactively foiling the hostile forces’ “peaceful evolution” strategy and resolutely preventing “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from happening within the Service. Due regard has been paid to building a contingent of cadres and party members with good political qualities, professional competence, and working style to meet the requirements for a “modern, regular, elite, modern” Service. Consideration has been given to stepping up the Determination to Win Emulation Movement within offices and units as the basis for fulfilling the assigned political task.

As the core force on the air front, to maintain readiness for defeating all enemies in the air, the Service’s Party Committee and Command have frequently built up their cadres and soldiers’ political zeal, determination and spirit of daring to fight, knowing how to fight, and being resolve to defeat the enemy.” Moreover, at the same time, due attention has been paid to making the Service’s troops capable of overcoming difficulties, effectively exploiting and mastering weapons and technical equipment, particularly the new ones, and maintaining vigilance and readiness to defeat all violations of the Homeland’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. The all-level party committees, commissars, and political offices have concentrated on well carrying out the work of political, ideological education and enhanced education of Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, and the Party’s political and military policies. Due regard has been paid to improving cadres and soldiers’ material and mental life and ensuring a special policy for them.

Importance has been attached to studying and grasping the enemy’s situation, plots, and artifices, particularly the object of struggle in the hi-tech warfare, formulating correct, timely combat projects and determination, and keeping completing the air defence posture associated with the defensive posture in each area. Great weight has been added to maintaining vigilance and combat readiness, enhancing inspection of units’ combat readiness, effectively, opportunely dealing with situations, and improving the capacity to manage the airspace and operate flights in a close, smooth, solid manner so as to avoid falling into passivity. At the same time, due attention has been paid to advising the Party, the State, the Central Military Commission, and the Ministry of National Defence on making plans for air defence and air operations, building and making the postures of the national air defence, the people’s air defence, and the Military’s air defence comprehensively strong, extensive, effective, and capable of defending the Homeland’s airspace.

Learning from valuable experiences in the national liberation and protection wars, the Service has focused on enhancing and making its training work and exercises relevant to the task requirements and combat reality in the new conditions. During the training process, offices and units have adhered to the motto of “basics, practicality, and thorough grasp,” promoting rehearsal training, practising combat projects under the approved programs and plans, and training troops to master new materiel. The all-level party committees and commands have attached great value to conducting inspections, particularly unexpected ones and completely settling weaknesses and irrelevance in training. To raise the training quality, the Service has added great weight to renewing the training content, form, and method, combining training with settlement of combat situations and flight safety assurance, and aligning training with discipline management and military standard order building. As for the air force, emphasis has been placed on achieving a breakthrough in improving its capability in flight command and training military pilots to deal with situations in complex weather conditions and durable, night-time flights. For the air defence force, the Service has concentrated on improving the all-level cadres’ command and combat capacity, increasing tactical training, general tactical exercises, night-time training, and joint combat training to defend the Homeland’s sea and island sovereignty.

Currently, the Service’s tasks of combat readiness, airspace management, and flight operation are more demanding and complex, especially in the sea and island directions. Against that backdrop, the Service has accelerated the modernisation process, streamlined its organisational structure, received, exploited, and mastered new weapons and technical equipment. In this regard, special attention has been paid to building and encouraging the scientific and technological potential, promoting the role of top scientists, technicians, and repairmen, and exploiting and using weapons and technical equipment, particularly the new ones. At the same time, emphasis has been placed on developing and applying military science and technology to reality, making investments in national defence factories, improving the capacity to repair, manufacture, preserve, and maintain types of weapons and technical equipment, gradually upgrading equipment, and manufacturing materials and spare parts in order to effectively use all types of the existing weapons and technical equipment.

Enhancing the synergy to defend the Homeland’s airspace expresses the Air Defence - Air Force’s absolute loyalty to the Homeland, the Party, the State, and the people, which was built up in the nation’s wars in the 20^th century and will continue to be developed in the national construction and protection cause by the Air Defence - Air Force.

Maj. Gen. Vu Van Kha

Provisional Commander of the Air Defence - Air Force Service