To realise the Party’s guidelines on building a modern Naval Service, the Service’s Party Committee and Command have been focusing all resources, including personnel, weapons, equipment, and facilities on raising the Service’s synergy and combat power in order to make contributions to firmly protecting national sovereignty over seas and islands in any situation.

The Vietnam People’s Navy (VPN) serves as the core force in sea and island management and protection. Over the years, thanks to regard paid by the Party, the State, the Central Military Commission (CMC), and the Ministry of National Defence (MND), the VPN has gradually developed sufficient components with a large number of new-generation weapons and technical equipment. At the same time, it has built a contingent of cadres at all levels being trained both at home and abroad, with good qualities, political zeal, capabilities in command and management, and great capacity to master modern weapons and technical equipment. The Service’s synergy and combat power have been unceasingly improved.

The Service’s Party Committee and Command have frequently grasped and correctly anticipated situations at sea and opportunely given advice to the CMC and the MND on effective strategies to deal with issues, thereby making contributions to firmly protecting national sovereignty and maintaining peace and stability in seas and on islands. Units across the Service have regularly combined training and combat readiness with natural disaster prevention and mitigation, search and rescue, and safety assurance for marine economic activities, thus providing a solid foundation for our fishermen at sea.

Under the Party’s guidelines on building a modern Naval Service, the VPN has shown its growing confidence and professionalism in defence international integration and diplomacy with other countries’ navies in the region and the world. Notably, in 2021, the VPN first deployed Tran Hung Dao and Quang Trung frigates to join a fleet review and take part in the “Sea Cup” event within the Army Games held in the Russian Federation. In spite of limited experience, our naval contingent played with great confidence and determination and excellently won a Silver Medal. Those achievements have proved the VPN’s mastery over modern weapons and technical equipment and naval cadres and soldiers’ professionalism in the international environment. Cadres and soldiers of the VPN have always readily exchanged experience with other countries’ navies to develop an increasingly regular, elite, modern VPN capable of taking part in bilateral and multilateral activities and building seas of peace and stability in the region and the world.

Rear Admiral Pham Manh Hung inspecting Naval Brigade 172 of Naval Zone 3

Grasping the guidelines on building a modern VPN set by the Resolution of the 13^th National Party Congress, the Resolution of the 11^th Military Party Congress, and the Resolution of the 13^th Naval Party Congress for the 2020-2025 tenure, the Service’s Party Committee and Command have established the goal of basically modernising the VPN by 2025 and building a modern VPN by 2030. In order to realise this major goal, there should be specific plans and measures to bring into play the synergy and concentrate all human and material resources, with human resources playing a decisive role and material resources acting as a factor of special importance. Therefore, in the upcoming time, the Service will focus on well implementing several key tasks and measures as follows.

First, concentrate on building a really politically strong Service. This is a matter of critical importance to the Service’s successful fulfilment of all assigned missions. Thus, the Service will further educate its troops on the Party’s guidelines on military-defence work and the Homeland protection, particularly the Resolution of the 11^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum on “the Strategy for the Homeland Protection in the New Situation” and the Resolution of the 12^th Party Central Committee’s 8^th Plenum on “the Strategy for the sustainable development of Vietnam’s marine economy towards 2030, with a vision towards 2045.” Due attention will be paid to raising the quality and effectiveness of party and political work and realising three breakthroughs in anticipating, grasping, managing, and settling troops’ ideological issues, building pure, strong party organisations, strong mass organisations, strong soldiers’ councils, and a contingent of cadres and party members capable of playing a vanguard, exemplary role. Great value will be attached to building up cadres and soldiers’ political zeal, and loyalty to the Homeland, the Party, the State, and people as well as staff members’ confidence and determination to readily fight and sacrifice for national sovereignty over seas and islands.

Emphasis will be placed on building a strong Naval Party Organisation in terms of politics, ideology, morality, organisation, and personnel, maintaining the principles of the Party’s organisation and building, renewing work styles and methods, and effectively executing the 13^th Party Central Committee’s Conclusion 21-KL/TW, dated October 25^th, 2021 on building and rectifying the Party and the political system, resolutely preventing, pushing back, and strictly handling the degradation in political ideology, ethics, and lifestyle and the signs of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” amongst cadres and party members in line with the Politburo’s Directive 01-KL/TW, dated January 19^th, 2019 on continuing implementing Directive 05-CT/TW on enhancing the study and following of Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle.

Second, keep reviewing, adjusting, and making the Service’s organisational structure “compact and strong” as the basis for the VPN to move straight to modernity and satisfy its task requirements in the new situation. To that end, the Service’s Party Committee and Command will focus their leadership and direction on consolidating the Service’s organisational structure under regulations and the pre-set road map and ensuring a balance of forces, with priority given to main directions and important regions so as to facilitate defensive work from far to near and in various directions. Consideration will be given to directing offices and units to actively adjust their structure, reduce redundancies within service forces, and sufficiently staff combat units. All offices and units will have to arrange positions according to troops’ titles and professions. At the same time, importance will be attached to recruiting talents, developing high-quality human resources, and proactively cooperating with localities in building the reserve force and the coastal militia and self-defence force for defending national sovereignty over seas and islands, providing assistance for fishermen, and making the all-people national defence posture and the “posture of people’s hearts and minds” at sea increasingly strong.

Third, raise the quality of combat training and education and closely combine combat training with military standard order building and discipline management. Well implementing this measure will help develop high-calibre human resources for the substantive, solid modernisation of the Service. Thus, the Service will focus on training its troops to “master weapons, technical regulations, and safety regulations.” Significance will be attached to organising synchronous, intensive training courses relevant to combat projects, battlefields, weapons, and technical equipment, ensuring “good training, strict discipline, and effective technical support,” and taking the defence of national sovereignty over seas and islands and the building of a “revolutionary, regular, elite, modern” Service as the training goal. Due attention will be paid to further training all-level commands to deal with situations, enhancing training courses in complex weather and electronic warfare conditions, and practising shooting at sea. The Service will well organise its exercises to improve its cadres and soldiers’ technical, tactical, and commanding capacity. To develop high-quality human resources, academies and schools under the Service will renew and improve education and training, while encouraging cooperation in education and training with partners both at home and abroad. The Service will adopt policies to attract talents from outside for its development. Great value will be attached to improving cadres’ naval combat art, tactical knowledge, group skills, fitness, and command of foreign languages and information technology to meet the requirements set by international integration. The Service will train its professional employees to well exploit weapons and technical equipment, particularly modern ones. It will also closely combine training with military standard order building and discipline management to achieve a solid positive change in troops’ compliance with the State’s law and the Military’s discipline.

Russian Organisation Committee giving Silver Medal to Vietnamese Naval contingent in Army Games of 2021

Fourth, continue making investments in modern equipment and better logistics and technical support for managing and defending national sovereignty over seas and islands in the new situation. To do so, the Service will advise the Party, the State, the CMC, and the MND to acquire modern equipment for observation and supervision in the air, on the waters, and underwater and new-generation signal and radar systems, aircraft, submarines, and other types of firepower with a high degree of automation, good integration, and high security to ensure deterrence and enable its affiliates to win victories within certain space and time during possible conflicts at sea, readily conduct operations to protect islands far from the coast in any situation, and participate in providing humanitarian assistance and preventing and combating non-traditional security threats at sea. It will build a basic, regular system of logistics and technical support facilities with advanced, synchronous equipment. Besides, it will consolidate the logistics force’s organisational structure, increase potential of the people’s logistics and coastal defensive zone logistics, and undertake researches into a reform in technical support for its affiliates, especially its forces with durable operations at sea.

Fifth, pay due regard to developing naval military science and increasing self-reliance in materials and technical equipment. As the Service is the core force in managing and protecting sacred national sovereignty over seas and islands with the use of modern weapons and technical equipment, the development of military science in general, naval military science in particular is a matter of importance to the Service’s modernisation process. Therefore, in addition to bringing into play our country’s naval art and lessons on fighting enemies on rivers and at sea, the Service will concentrate on reviewing the VPN’s campaigns, battles, and combat activities during national liberation wars and the protection of national sovereignty over seas and islands as the basis for completing its forces’ combat methods and the VPN’s art of war. In response to impacts made by the 4^th industrial revolution on military-defence field, the Service will direct its affiliates to further research and master modern sciences and technologies, particularly for maintaining, innovating, and modernising weapons and technical equipment. Due regard will be paid to applying domestic and mastered technologies to manufacturing technical materials and even specialised weapons and technical equipment, while consideration will be given to increasing self-reliance in providing technical support and equipment to reduce dependence upon foreign partners.

Building a modern Naval Service is a major policy of our Party. To well implement this policy, cadres and soldiers of the VPN will bring into play the heroic tradition and heighten self-reliance, unity, creativity, and determination to build a “revolutionary, regular, elite, modern” VPN capable of successfully fulfilling all assigned missions.

Rear Admiral PHAM MANH HUNG, Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the Service