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Vietnam Mastered Production of Key Components for Soviet-era Air Defense Systems.
ness with domestic resources amid the challenging situation with foreign procurement.
As of today, the most widely used air defense system in Vietnam remains the S-125 in its Pechora variants, with 51 launchers, according to the Military Balance 2024 data.
In addition, specialists have established the modernization of the missiles to the S-125VT version, which experts from the Vietnamese company Viettel are upgrading. Most of these missiles are refurbished, and they use electronic components and circuit boards manufactured in Vietnam.
Similar modernization and refurbishment are being carried out for the missiles of the S-75M3 systems, of which, according to the latest data, about 25 launchers remain, all of which have undergone modernization at the A31 factory of the Vietnam People’s Air Force.
It is worth noting that Vietnam has recently started paying more attention to local production and refurbishing specific types of weaponry. The country is also increasingly practicing reverse engineering, aiming to manufacture Soviet-era equipment while incorporating modern fire control systems and other components.
Militarnyi previously reported that Vietnamese company Viettel, for the first time, presented its own anti-ship missile, VSM-01A, as well as the VCS-01 Truong Son coastal missile system built on its basis.
The new missile is a further development of the VSM-01, an export version of the Russian anti-ship missile Kh-35E, which was built under license at the local defense enterprise Z189. The degree of localization in the production of this development remains unknown. However, it is highly likely that it involved only assembly from pre-manufactured machine kits.
Guidance is provided by in-house developed onboard systems, including the VASK-03 radar head, which operates in the Ku-band frequency range produced by Viettel. It is claimed to be capable of independently capturing radio-contrast targets at a distance of up to 20 kilometers.