The United States is preparing to sell drones and helicopters to Vietnam, Reuters cited people with knowledge of the preliminary talks by both sides.
U.S. defense firms, including Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, Textron, and IM Systems Group, have reportedly discussed the possibility of supplying military equipment to Vietnam in talks with top government officials on the sidelines of the country’s first large-scale defense show last week.
The talks signify Vietnam’s interest in seeking new suppliers and reducing its reliance on Russian arms. The Ukraine conflict and associated sanctions against Russia have strained Vietnam’s military partnership with Russia, which has long been its main supplier.
However, military deals with the U.S. face several potential challenges, including human rights concerns, the impact on Vietnam’s relations with China, high costs, and the compatibility of U.S. systems with Vietnam’s existing weapons.
In 2016, an arms embargo against Vietnam was lifted, allowing the U.S. to export defense products such as coastguard ships and T-6 trainer aircraft to the South East Asia country.
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For helicopters, I am looking at Sikorsky MH-60R/S Seahawks to be sited at Danang base. We have plenty of the above mentioned helicopters at the boneyard AMARG to fill Vietnam’s requisitions for MH-60R/S. New Blackhawks will follow later.
Attack helicopters could be Bell helicopters reposing in AMARG. Many have plenty of flight hours to sate Vietnam’s requirements.
P-8s for Vietnam would come out of the hot production line we have running. I project 12 units for Vietnam along with 4 P-3Cs from the boneyard for training in Vietnam.
Fighter aircraft, we can regenerate F-16s from the boneyard or 20 units to fill one squadron until they get feet wet flying the Vipers. Eventually, they will migrate to F-16s, F-15EXs and F-35s from factory lines to replace their current fighter aircraft, some we could buy from them.
Vietnam will have a urgent need for C-130Js and we can supply a few from our production line in Lockheed Martin by backordering our orders. We can supply C-130Hs from boneyard for training missions before they take delivery of C-130Js.
Tankers. We can start with KC-130Js before moving on to Boeing tankers.