He Thong Phong Khong Viet Nam

8/6/2019 He Thong Phong Khong Viet Nam

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Completely amateur web and Google-Earth based research.Corrections, commentary and constructive feedback welcome. Manythanks to those who helped find stuff, particularly Sea O’Connor andthe Google Earth guys. This is not intended to be exhaustive orauthoritative.

In this illustrative essay I will concentrate on air-defences and thencover a few curiosities. All illustrations by me unless otherwise stated.

Much of this research has been on Google Earth. I’ve attempted toUpload a Google Earth placemark’s file (.KMZ) HERE. To open it, firstopen Google Earth, then open the attached file via the link. The filehosting site makes you enter an anti-bot code and then wait a minutebut the file is well worth it! The file includes elements of Sean

http://www.upload.ae/file/14471/Planemans-Vietnam-kmz.html

http://www.upload.ae/file/14471/Planemans-Vietnam-kmz.html



O'Connor's (SOC) excellent World SAM sites file.

HANOI

The capital of the country, Hanoi was also the target of much USbombing in the Vietnam war and the location of many air defences.

An illustration from HERE shows some of the Soviet supplied SA-2 SAMsites around Hanoi during the Linebecker raids of the Vietnam War:

http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/Patterns-and-Predictability.pdf

http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/documents/Patterns-and-Predictability.pdf







Looking at Google Earth it’s apparent that this sketchmap is no

exactly to scale and that the exact locations of the batteries may bslightly off, but the general picture is there. Additionally I was able tcross-reference several SA-2 sites with the map

Now Hanoi is protected by multiple layers of SA-2 and SA-3 SAMs, anAnti-aircraft gun sites, all operated by the Air Defence troops

Since plotting the above illustration I’ve found more AAA sites an

refined my range estimates, but the above still gives a good idea othe defenceive picture. All AAA is shown as 4km radius which iequivalent of 37mm AAA. Most sites are compatible with various AAA



guns and ranges may go as far as 6km for 57mm AAA with radars, or just 1.5km for 12.7mm machine guns. Materially on a map like thisthat doesn’t make much difference.

SA-2 “Guideline”Whilst Hanoi retains several SA-2 sites they are much reducedcompared to the 1970s. Surprisingly, many sites are more recent witha peculiarly Vietnamese layout of just 4 (as opposed to the usual 6)missile launching positions.

SA-2 coverage:



Hanoi is at the centre-left of this image, Hai Phong is centre-right.

Not alluded to in the sketch above is that the SA-2 has a minimum

engagement range of 6km. The missile is medium range but capable of all operational altitudes.

The main versions of SA-2 in service are the SA-2D and SA-2F. Theseare relatively advanced for SA-2s but are still Vietnam war era with noindications that they have been substantially modernized. Many emptysites for SA-2 remain around Hanoi, some 6-missile layouts beingVietnam war whereas some are more recent 4-missile sites. The move



to 4-round sites is surprising given that in Soviet doctrine the SA-2 wassupposed to be fired 3-per-target. Maybe Vietnam rations 2 missilesper target, certainly during the Vietnam War few engagementsinvolved 3 missiles per target.

SA-2D “Guideline” SAM

Example SA-2 sites around Hanoi



The above site has been converted from 6-missile to 4-missileconfiguration



This site was built as a 4-missile site, and is presumably more recent than the Vietnam War

SA-3 “Goa” The USSR was reluctant to supply the more advanced SA-3 missile toVietnam because they were concerned that some may fall into Chinesehands (USSR and China had just fallen out).Whilst reports vary it’slikely that the SA-3s were supplied after the end of the War.

SA-3 coverage



The SA-3 is undoubtedly more potent though shorter ranged than theSA-2, but is increasingly obsolete. Vietnamese SA-3s are not reported

to have been upgraded.



Vietnamese SA-3 sites generally follow the standard pattern. Althoughthe SA-3 is more mobile than the SA-2, the sites around Hanoi arestatic installations.



Note that the radar and control vehicles are protected by something

approximating a concrete drive-through garage, with the antenna onthe roof.

Anti-aircraft Artillery (AAA) This is my favorite bit because they are often overlookedor miss-identified on Google Earth as SAM sites. As you can see the above SA-3site is co-located with an AAA site. The one in the above image looks



like a light AAA site (heavy machine guns) and without a radar – therevetement in the centre is much too small to drive in a trailermounted radar like “Fire Can”. This is probably because the AAA getsgeneral target data from the SA-3 site’s sensors. The control locationat the centre probably has a guy with a hand help optical sight

somewhat like a widely spaced pair of binoculars.

A typical AAA site has 6 gun positions arranged in a circle around a



control position:





Exact layouts vary in almost every respect, but static sites ar

relatively easy to identify in Vietnam because they require barrackand quickly have well worn (or paved) paths between the gunsAlthough similar in layout to the classic SA-2 pattern, AAA sites arusually much smaller with a diameter of about 60-80m as opposed t

1750+for an SA-2 site

Example AAA sites, Hanoi



The top example has shelters for the guns. This is peculiar to Vietnamand works like this:





The two roof panels come up to meet at an apex over the gun, whichhas to be lowered. Triangular endplates also fold out to give a gardenshed like appearance (as is clearly visible on Google Earth in somesites elsewhere).

These sites employ various AAA guns but most notably the Sovietsupplied M1939 37mm gun and the S-60 57mm gun.

M1939 37mm AAA



Note that illustration shows modified Chinese Type-74. Virtually nodifference and I already had this illustration..

The 37mm AAA is basically Soviet Russia’s equivalent to the famousBofor’s 40mm gun. Vietnamese 37mm guns tend to be twin barrel butsingle barrel versions may also be in service.

S-60 57mm AAA:



Location of site unknown

Light AAA Site There is also at least one light AAA site in Hanoi. Light AAA, as in heavymachine guns, which are only effective to a range of about 1.5km soalthough there is an airport close by, and a radar station, it’s odd thatthe site is located where it is.



S-300 PMU-1 (SA-20)By far the most sophisticated SAM in Vietnamese service, the S-300has a reputation as the Russian equivalent to the Patriot. The PMU-1version has a modest anti-missile capability.

The system is highly mobile but in peace time, it is often deployedfrom fixed sites to ease maintenance, allow readiness, and reduceoperating costs.Radar is probably two

96L6 EW. There’s no reference of any command post (83M6E complex, with 64N6E

BIG BIRD battle management radar) purchased, which is not necessarily unusual

given that they bought two batteries and they're separated by a long distance. The96L6 is probably fine for their purposes.



Sean O'Connor

Sites: Reports indicated 2 batteries. Logically one is in the northcovering Hanoi, and the other in the south covering Ho Chi Minh City.Range: 150km.

Although I do not know the location of the sites, the below illustrationgives a feel for the range advantage over the SA-2. The circle iscentered on Hanoi:



Off topic curiosity in HanoiWhilst on Google Earth I found a Tupolev Tu-134 airliner in a carpark,miles away from any airport.



Turns out it’s a special police counter-terrorism training centre. Howthey got the aircraft there, we can only speculate.



Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

Ho Chi Minh City is defended by a layers of SA-2, SA-3 and AAA, withprobable S-300 (SA-20) coverage:

What is interesting about Ho Chi Minh City’s air defence sites, indeedall those in the south of the country, is that they are post-Vietnam warera. They thus better reflect current Vietnamese military infrastructuredoctrine than some of the legacy sites in the north.

Example SA-2 sites





Example SA-3 site



AAA sites There are several clusters of fixed AAA sites although they do notprovide full coverage of the city. There are no less than four activesites on the main airport:







There are also three AAA sites with multiple AAA batteries co-located.







Elsewhere in Vietnam (static defences)Vietnam is not jam-packed with air defense sites as you might imagine,but there are several cities with defences and a few here-and-there.Da’Nang

Cam RanhCan Tho

AAA cluster, Nan Tu’o’ng



Mobile Air DefencesAlthough all air defences have a degree of mobility, the Army and Navyoperate the main mobile units. The main air defence weapons remainlight AAA guns such as ZPU-1/4 & DShK heavy machine guns. These

are pretty harmless to modern combat aircraft except unarmoredhelicopters and transports. SA-7 MANPAD missiles are also prevalentand sometimes even deployed in revetted positions similar to AAA(why???).

More formidable are the SA-6 and SA-13 tactical SAM systems:SA-6 “Gainful” (Kub)



SA-13 “Gopher”



Other mobile units include the ZSU-23-4 ‘Shilka’ AAA tank. I haven’tbeen able to confirm the use of ny more advanced MANPADs than thelargely obsolete SA-7 “Grail”.

Air Force The air force operates a modest number of combat aircraft includingseveral types of air defence fighter. The primary type, by quantity, is

the MiG-21 “Fishbed” which was famously deployed during theVietnam War. Current operational models are more modern but thedesign itself is undoubtedly reaching the end of its military relevance.MiG-21



Vietnam has about 100 MiG-21s in service (some estimates 150), andthey are primarily armed with obsolete AA-8 “Aphid” and AA-2-2“Advanced Atoll” short range missiles. Some reports suggest that

some Vietnamese MiG-21s have been upgraded, probably to MiG-21-93standard, and possibly by HAL in India. However, although the Vietnamopenly considered this in the early 2000s there is no evidence tosupport that it actually occurred. Such an upgraded MiG-21 would havebetter radar, avionics and weapons, possibly including the R-77 (AA-12“Adder”) missile loosely equivalent of the AMRAAM. Deployment of theR-77 by Vietnam is unlikely as it would trigger Singapore to deploytheir AMRAAMs in the region (currently they are stored in US on thepretext that no equivalent missiles are in the region and that deployingthem would create an arms race).

With the MiG-21 becoming generally obsolete the Vietnamese havestarted deploying the much more potent Su-27 Flanker series of heavyfighter. These are generally equivalent to the F-15 Eagle series. Thefirst Flankers in Vietnamese service were Su-27 models (6 x Su-27SK single seaters and 5 x Su-27UBK twin seaters).Su-27SK Flanker



These Flankers were later joined by 4 more advanced Su-30MK2V twinseat multi-role fighters with enhanced strike capability.

Su-30MK2V Flanker

Vietnamese Flankers carry AA-12 Archer short range missiles andprobably various versions of the AA-10 Alamo medium/long rangemissile. It’s unconfirmed whether they carry the AA-12 Adder but Ithink this is unlikely for the previously mentioned reasons.

This means that only 15 Flankers are in service (was 16), but reportssuggest 24 may still be on order. Reports also suggest Vietnam intendsto deploy the R-77 missile at some point.

There is conflicting evidence surrounding the basing of the Flankerswith Phang Rang as the reported base, but all photos I could find, andGoogle Earth suggests that the Flankers are at Bien Hoa AB.



Flankers at Bien Hoa







The 1,500km operation radius of the Flanker is 10 times further tha

the most potent SAM systems in Vietnam (S-300). This allows thFlankers to cover much of the region

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He Thong Phong Khong Viet Nam