In order to match their prioritized modernization requirements, the Signal Corps Party Committee and High Command have always concentrated their leadership and directions on instructing their affiliates to implement  synchronous and effective measures to ensure smooth and firm communications for assigned tasks.

Over the past years, thoroughly grasping and carrying out resolutions and directives by the Party, the Central Military Commission, and the Ministry of National Defence, under proactive and creative spirit, the Signal Corps Party Committee and High Command (hereinafter the SCPC and SCHC) have always focused their leadership and direction on building the revolutionary, regular, elite, and modernized Signal Corps and  military signal forces on a par with that of the region’s other developed countries, thereby enabling the Signal Corps to successfully accomplish its missions in the cause of Homeland construction and protection.

At present, scientific and technological developments, the great impacts of the 4^th Industrial Revolution and requirements and military-defence missions of protecting the Homeland under hi-tech warfare conditions urgently necessitate the modernization of military communications. Therefore, the SCPC and SCHC need to focus on taking some synchronous measures as follows.

First, building the politically strong Signal Corps as a basis for improving synergy and combativeness. Accordingly, the SCPC attaches great value to building politically, ideologically, organizationally, and morally strong party organizations at all levels, promoting leadership principles, and actively reforming the content and forms of party meetings;  combining the building of pure and strong party organizations with that of comprehensively strong offices and units; and the building of a contingent of party members with that of a contingent of cadres whilst effectively implementing the Resolution of the 4^th Plenum of the Party Central Committee (12^th tenure) on Party building and rectification, Directive No. 05-CT/TW by the Politburo (12^th tenure) on accelerating the study and following of Uncle Ho’s thought, morality, and lifestyle and the Campaign entitled “Promoting traditions, devoting talents, deserving to be Uncle Ho’s soldiers”. The entire Signal Corps has focused on renovating and improving the quality and effectiveness of the work of political education and enhancing soldiers’ spiritual and cultural lives; building offices and units with a diverse and wholesome cultural life while continually fostering the quality of emulation and commendation work and Determined to win movements with an emphasis on properly carrying out political tasks and remedying shortcomings and limitations; proactively fighting and foiling the strategies of “peaceful evolution” and manifestations of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” from within and the “depoliticization” of the Military by hostile forces, etc. In addition, great value is attached to firmly gripping and managing cadres and soldiers’ ideological developments and aspirations associated with the work of internal political protection; proactively predicting contingencies and opportunely tackling attendant inadequacies, thereby building high consensus within every office and unit, creating a complete transformation in cadres and soldiers’ awareness and responsibility towards the mission of modernizing the Signal Corps.

Second, making adjustments to organizational structure to build quantitatively and structurally strong offices and units. The Party, State, Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence have always paid due attention to adjustments to organizational and force structure in a bid to ceaselessly enhance the Military’s overall quality and combativeness. It is considered to be a breakthrough enshrined in Resolution of the 10^th Military Party Congress. Thus, the SCPC and SCHC have proactively advised the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence to organize strategic-and-operational-level signal forces in close tune with the peculiarities of stationed and combat areas, and combat art and cutting-edge communications equipment. The Signal Corps’ affiliates are required to focus their leadership and directions on strictly implementing all-level organizational structure and downsizing military personnel according to the intended road maps, thereby contributing to building the “seasoned, compact, strong, mobile, and flexible” Signal Corps; ensuring smooth communications in the Military’s combat, defensive and strategic posture; and saving the defence budget. Up to now, units with adjusted organizational and force structure have always exhibited political and ideological stability and successfully accomplished their assigned tasks.

Third, accelerating the execution of communications projects and facilities; innovating and fostering the quality of guaranteeing smooth communications in every stationed and combat area. For the sake of high effectiveness, the SCHC has instructed its affiliates to thoroughly grasp higher echelons’ resolutions and directives on modernizing the Signal Corps and “Strategies for developing a system of military communications in the 2011-2020 period” with an emphasis on improving the quality of communications projects and facilities and developing a cutting-edge system of military communications; and collaborating with military and non-military telecommunications enterprises in sharing communications infrastructure and ensuring a system of stable and firm military communications. Simultaneously, it is necessary to proactively and effectively research and apply scientific and technological advances, and integrate a huge number of multi-service leading-edge technical equipment with the system of military communications; to build the system of modern, synchronized, and firm military communications, thereby ensuring timely, smooth, firm, secret, and safe communications for all set tasks.

Under the motto “proactiveness, creativity, and development”, the SCPC and SCHC have also focused their leadership on comprehensively innovating the technical work, ensuring the adequate and timely provision of technical equipment for the mission of protecting sea, island, border and air sovereignty and other missions whilst actively making further investment in improving technical capabilities for strategic technical centres and other relevant technical facilities; researching, trialing, and synchronously producing components and attachments of new technological equipment; being self-sufficient in encryption and frequency-hopping algorithm; and taking steps to apply artificial intelligence to military telecommunications equipment and services, etc. In addition, it is crucial to apply information technology to command automation and data exchange, such as the control centre for the system of military communications; the Signal Corps electronic information portal, and units’ websites; to continuously promote the efficiency of military telecommunications network management software on 3D digital map platform, and research and adopt safety and security solutions to the system of military communications and the prevention of electronic and cyber space warfare.

Third, reforming content and forms of combat training and building skilled manpower. The SCPC and SCHC have taken effective measures to retain and develop a contingent of highly skilled technical cadres and workers; attached great weight to cultivating political, moral, and lifestyle dignities as well as enhancing professionalism for cadres and soldiers, thereby contributing to effectively exploiting and using modern IT and technical equipment. For training missions, under the motto “basic, practical, and firm”, the SCHC continues to well implement Resolution No. 765-NQ/QUTW by the Central Military Commission on “enhancing training quality in the 2013-2020 period and beyond”, and conduct a wide range of training activities in tune with combat readiness missions whilst concentrating on boosting combat, commanding, and managing capabilities for a contingent of cadres; training soldiers to exploit and proficiently use provided equipment and master modern equipment and materials; combining combat training with physical training; and building “the learning Signal Corps” and “the electronic Signal Corps”, thereby enabling the Signal Corps to build a contingent of technical cadres and workers with a high degree of technical expertise.

For education and training missions, the SCPC and SCHC have instructed their affiliated schools to continue to firmly grasp and well execute resolutions and directives by the Party and the Central Military Commission on education and training, and ceaselessly reform training content and syllabuses in accord with mission requirements whilst standardizing the contingent of teachers and managing cadres; proactively expanding international cooperation pertaining to education and training affairs; and raising the quality of training technical cadres and workers along with the motto “skilled in traditional communications; seasoned in mobile communications, and masterly in high-tech communications”. In addition, the SCHC has also taken various measures to well implement personnel planning and training with priority given to undermanned technical fields while opportunely adjusting and supplementing all-level personnel planning; quantitatively and qualitatively building a contingent of all-level cadres with high political quality, well-rounded education and good practical competence; and properly carrying out policies for attracting talented people and promoting meritocracies, especially a contingent of leading technical cadres and workers in order for them to single-mindedly devote themselves to their duty.

Thanks to the effective implementation of aforementioned solutions, the Signal Corps not only builds, trains, and maintains Army-wide technical equipment and communications line and ensures the “blood vessel” of timely, smooth, secret, and safe communications in any circumstance, but also takes steps to successfully fulfil the mission of modernizing its forces, matching mission requirements of building and safeguarding the Homeland in the new revolutionary stage.

Major General Ngo Kim Dong, Head of the Signal Corps Party Committee, Commissar of the Signal Corps