Bringing into play the good results and valuable experiences, the whole Military should continue adopting measures synchronously, comprehensively for renewing and improving the conduct of the Campaign on “managing and exploiting weapons and equipment effectively, sustainably, safely, economically and ensuring traffic safety (aka the Campaign 50) to meet the requirements of Military build-up in the new situation.

Sr. Lt. Gen. Be Xuan Truong, head of the MND’s Steering Board 50 addressing the conference to review the Navy's conduct of the Campaign 50 in the period of 2015-2019 (photo: qdnd.vn)

In the period of 2015-2020, the Campaign 50 (the Campaign for short) has continued to be conducted widely across the entire Military and witnessed new practical, effective developments. Notably, all-level party committees and commands have exercised their leadership and direction closely on organising the Campaign. The Steering Boards 50 (on the Campaign) from ministerial to grass-roots levels have been frequently consolidated. The Technical Branch has acted as standing agencies and played a core role in counselling and inspecting the conduct of the Campaign. Offices and units have concretised the contents and targets of the Campaign launched by the Ministry of National Defence (MND) into their own specific targets and measures in accordance with their function and task, while combining the Campaign with the Determination to Win Emulation Movement and others, thereby producing a ripple effect and encouraging the participation of a large number of cadres and soldiers. In the past 5 years, despite numerous difficulties, the whole Military has successfully fulfilled 4 targets of the Campaign, thus making a positive change in troops’ awareness and responsibility for the technical work. There have many reforms in managing, maintaining and repairing weapons and technical equipment. Offices and units have synchronously provided, produced, innovated, upgraded and modernised weapons and equipment, while ensuring technical support for new-generation materiel. The technical coefficient of weapons and equipment within the Military has always been under the regulations to meet the requirements set by training, combat readiness, search and rescue, and contingency missions. The Military has seen a positive transformation in materiel, labour, and traffic safety. There has been a decrease in the number of traffic accidents while the number of safe kilometres by military vehicles has increased sharply on a yearly basis. Besides, the Campaign has stimulated the development of technical initiatives and innovations, which have enabled offices and units to master science and technology, settle many issues on managing, preserving and using weapons and technical equipment, and save hundreds of billions of VND for their budget.

However, in addition to those good results, there have been weaknesses in leading, directing and organising the Campaign. The work of managing and exploiting weapons and technical equipment has yet to be put in order. The decrease in training, traffic and production incidents has yet to be really stable. Across the Military, there have been several extremely serious incidents causing human and material losses. Those shortcomings have been clearly pointed out in the conference to review the conduct of the Campaign in the period of 2015-2020. Offices and units’ party committees and commands should seriously draw lessons and opportunely adopt remedial measures.

In the upcoming time, the global and regional situation will have unpredictable changes. New demanding requirements will be imposed on the task of Military build-up and defence consolidation. The robust development of science and technology and particularly the 4^th industrial revolution will greatly impact on all aspects of the social life, with both opportunities and challenges for the military technical work. While focusing investments on acquiring new-generation materiel, due to our limited budget, we have to use the existing weapons and equipment which have been in use for a long time. Thus, this Campaign is extremely necessary and acts as a long-term strategy. To effectively conduct the Campaign, the entire Military should promote its good results and valuable experiences and keep comprehensively fulfilling the preset goals and targets, with a focus on the following.

First, enhance all-level party committees and commanders’ leadership and direction and promote the core role of the Technical Branch in organising the Campaign. Party committees, commanders, and commissars at all levels should continue to grasp resolutions and directives by the Central Military Commission (CMC) and the MND on the technical work, particularly the CMC’s Resolution 382/NQ-ĐUQSTW, dated November 29^th, 2007 and its Conclusion 763-KL/QUTW, dated December 19^th, 2012 on leadership over the technical work in the new situation. Grounded on those documents, it is necessary to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of leadership over the conduct of the Campaign. Right after the review of the organisation of the Campaign, units and offices should opportunely supplement their targets and measures for the Campaign in the period of 2020-2025 and beyond in accordance with the real situation, while quickly consolidating their Steering Board 50. Technical offices should well perform their function as standing agencies and play their core role in counselling, directing, inspecting, and conducting the Campaign. To effectively organise the Campaign, it is vital that offices and units decentralise the work of leadership and direction, fulfil the goals and targets of the Campaign, and focus on achieving a breakthrough in overcoming weaknesses in their technical work and directing this work towards grass-roots level. More importantly, it is essential to further renew measures for conducting the Campaign to avoid formalism and triteness and combine the Campaign with the building of comprehensively strong, “exemplary, typical” units and pure, strong party organisations. The emulation movement titled “raising the comprehensive quality of the Campaign, achieving a new breakthrough in mastering modern weapons and equipment, and ensuring safety, proactiveness, creativity, and stable development” launched by the CMC and the MND and others should be closely organised to add an incentive to fulfil the preset goals and targets.

Second, improve the quality of propagation and education to make a more positive change in the awareness and responsibility for conducting the Campaign across the whole Military. Over the years, one of the main reasons for weaknesses in the Campaign is that troops’ awareness and responsibility have been great enough. Hence, in order to develop the Campaign, offices and units should continue rendering cadres and soldiers fully aware of the Campaign and building their motivation, responsibility, self-awareness, and self-reliance. Emphasis should be placed on clarifying the necessity, position and significance of the Campaign to performing the political tasks, building comprehensively strong units, and improving the Military’s combat strength as well as on introducing the contents, goals, and targets of the Campaign. Grasping the Directive 63/CT-BQP, dated December 5^th, 2016 and the Guidance by the General Political Department on “strengthening the work of propagating the Campaign 50 via press agencies,” offices and units should renew, diversify and direct the contents, forms and methods of propagation and education towards grass-roots levels and especially those who are directly in charge of managing and exploiting weapons and technical equipment. Military press agencies should organise and maintain columns on the Campaign, with priority given to disseminating military units’ conduct and their valuable experiences, and encouraging creative, effective models and “good people, good deed” examples. Besides, it is essential to well organise technical competitions to create the atmosphere of emulation within units, proactively detect, prevent and fight against the perception that the Campaign is the responsibility of the Technical Branch and the signs of formalism, oversimplification, subjectivity and over-satisfaction.

Third, focus on raising the quality of realising the targets of the Campaign. Offices and units should scientifically concretise and fulfil 6 main points and targets in the period of 2020-2025 set by the MND’s Steering Board 50 in accordance with their function and task. It is necessary that offices and units should renew measures for improving the technical work’s quality and effectiveness, while attaching great value to closely managing weapons, technical equipment and staff members in accordance with their “compact, strong” organisational structure. In addition to strictly conforming with the directives and regulations on managing and using weapons and equipment by the MND, offices and units should supplement and perfect their system of documents and regulations on materiel management and use. Also, they should improve their staff members’ professional competence and management skills, while stringently maintaining the order for preserving, maintaining, repairing and storing weapons and technical equipment. Technical offices at all levels should promote their core role in directing, counselling and maintaining the order for materiel preservation, maintenance and repair, particularly the “Technical Day” and the Technical Hour” at grass-roots level. Besides, they should well organise weapon, technical depot and good technician competitions at all levels. Due attention should be paid to exploiting the invested equipment and technologies as well as modern technical equipment and production lines in order to further raise the quality of repairing materiel and manufacturing technical materials. Consideration should be given to consolidating and upgrading technical establishments and effectively implementing projects and plans set by the Resolution 382/NQ-ĐUQSTW.

Ensuring safety is one of the central targets of the Campaign in the period of 2020-2025. Therefore, all-level party committees and commands should focus their leadership and direction on strictly executing resolutions, directives, regulations and guiding documents on keeping state and military secrets, especially the Circular 202/2016/TT-BQP, dated December 12^th, 2016 by the MND on “ensuring information safety within the Vietnam People’s Army” and the Statutes on managing, providing and using Internet services within the Military. Competent offices should undertake researches to provide solutions on data security for information technology devices, heighten revolutionary vigilance and responsibility of cadres, employees and soldiers towards the protection of military secrets, and show them how to protect themselves. Importance should be attached to enhancing measures for ensuring safety of weapons, equipment and technical establishments, proactively inspecting, detecting, opportunely preventing and handling detriments to safety. Moreover, offices and units should regularly practise projects on natural disaster, fire and explosion prevention and control. They should ask their cadres and employees to abide by the Road Traffic Law and the regulations on ensuring traffic safety and order. Functional offices should enhance the quality of training military drivers and granting military driving licences, while improving the efficiency and effectiveness of cooperating with the Traffic Police Force in ensuring traffic safety so as to raise the self-awareness and express the beauty of traffic culture. At the same time, due attention should be paid to resolutely, strictly settling violations of the Traffic Law and the traffic regulations. The entire Military will strive for a dramatic decrease in the number of traffic accidents according to all 3 criteria (quantity, deaths and the injured), achieve the target of 5 million safe kilometres per one (A, B) incident relating to military vehicles, and reduce the number of traffic accidents by 10%-15% in comparison with the period of 2015-2020. Also, offices and units should promote self-reliance and apply technical researches, initiatives and innovations to save costs and materials, while using the innovation and modernisation of weapons and technical equipment as well as technical initiatives as an important criterion for assessing the results of the Campaign.

Fourth, attach significance to building and multiplying typical examples in the conduct of the Campaign. This is a valuable hands-on experience that helps encourage “good people, good deed” examples and acts as a scientific measure for developing the Campaign profoundly and stably. Thus, while leading and organising the Campaign, party committees, commands, and Steering Boards 50 of offices and units should place great value on selecting and building model units, actively detecting and developing typical examples as the basis for disseminating and multiplying good experiences. In the process, due attention should be paid to central, new, difficult points of the Campaign and weaknesses in units’ technical work. Besides, it is important to carry out reviews to opportunely rectify limitations, disseminate and exchange good experiences, and unceasingly raise the quality of fulfilling the targets of the Campaign.

The organisation of the Campaign is a political task of both long-term and short-term importance. All offices and units should continue surmounting difficulties and taking creative measures to accomplish the goals and targets of the Campaign in the period of 2020-2025 and make contributions to building a “revolutionary, regular, elite, gradually modern” Army capable of successfully fulfilling all assigned missions.

Sr. Lt. Gen. BE XUAN TRUONG, Member of the Party Central Committee

Member of the CMC, Deputy Minister of National Defence

Head of the MND’s Steering Board 50