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For several years there have been reports that Vietnam has acquired a number of
Scud surface‐to‐surface missiles. For example, The Military Balance 2012, produced
by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, listed the following under its
Vietnam entry for missiles: “SSM Scud‐B/Scud‐C (reported).”
In May Vietnam lifted the
veil of secrecy on its Scud
missile force when the
military journal, Tap Chi
Quoc Phong Toan Dan (All
People’s National Defence)
printed a single page of
photos of Missile Brigade
490 (see photo right and
photos below).
The following month the Vietnamese‐language newspaper Bao Dat Viet (June 11,
2012) released the same photograph as show pictured above right and identified the
missile as the R‐17E/9K72 or SS‐1 Scud B missile. The newspaper also reported that
2
the Institute of Technology, Air Defence‐Air Force, had successfully produced one of
the key components for the liquid fuel used by Scud missiles. Bao Dat Viet identified
the group as Unit B90 (see photo below).
In the 1980s it was reported
that the Soviet Union provided
Vietnam with a number of Scud
B missiles (see text box). In
1998‐99 Vietnam procured a
further supply of Scud C
missiles from North Korea. The
U.S. National Air Intelliigence
Đ n v tên l a Scud L đoàn B90 hu n luy n chi n
Center estimates that Vietnam
đ u.
has “fewer than 50” Scud B missiles.
Strategic Forces
Sometime, presumably in the 1980s, Vietnam took possession of a small quantity of
Russian‐manufactured SS‐1 Scud B surface‐to‐surface missiles (with a range of 300 km
range and a payload of 985 kg). Vietnam’s drive to modernize its military forces and
develop a credible deterrent to the PLA led it into a series of agreements with North Korea.
In May 1994, a Vietnamese military delegation visited Pyongyang for preliminary
discussions on the possibility of North Korean arms sales to Vietnam. The following month,
Defense Minister Doan Khue led a high‐ranking military delegation to Pyongyang for an
official visit at the invitation of Marshal O Chin‐u, Minister of the DPRK’s Peoples Armed
Forces. In November 1994, Vice Marshal Choe Kwang, a member of the Politburo of the
Korean Workers’ Party and Acting Minister of Armed Forces and Chief of Staff of the
Korean People’s Army, led a military delegation on a return visit as guest of Defence
Minister, Gen. Doan Khue. Immediately after the visit a diplomatic source in Beijing
disclosed that Vietnam and North Korea had ‘struck a deal on barter trade under which
North Korea supplies Vietnam with weapons parts and ammunition while the latter ships
rice to North Korea.’
In December 1996, Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Defense, General Nguyen Thoi Bung,
visited North Korea and signed a defense deal worth U.S. $100 million. Payment was in
barter terms for Vietnamese rice. The sale of short‐range Scud ballistic missiles was
reportedly discussed at this time. In April 1999 it was reported that Vietnam had acquired a
quantity of North Korean Scud C surface‐to‐surface missiles (SSMs). The Scud C can carry a
payload of 770 kg over 550 km. In February 2009 it was reported that Hanoi and
Pyongyang were currently discussing North Korean assistance in upgrading Vietnam’s stock
of Scud SSMs.
Source: Carlyle A. Thayer, Vietnam People’s Army: Development and Modernization. Armed Forces
Lecture Paper Series Paper No. 4. Bandar Seri Begawan: Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of
Defence and Strategic Studies, 2009.
Coincidently with these developments, the United Daily News reported on July 2,
that China has set up a new missile brigade, the 827 Ballistic Missile Brigade, in
Shaoguan City, Guangdong province. Taiwanese new reports speculated that the
Missile Brigade would be equipped with the Dongfeng DF‐21 D anti‐ship ballistic
missile and the Dongfeng 16, a newer longer‐range ballistic missile. The DF‐21 D has
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a range of 2,000‐3,000 km and reportedly the capability to strike moving targets a
sea with great precision. The DF‐16 has a range of 1,200 km and thus capable of
hitting Hanoi.
Vietnam’s Scud missiles are capable of striking targets on Hainan island inckuding the
Yalong Naval Base near Sanya, and cities within its 500 km range in southern China
such as Nan Ning.