Vietnam receives first US military aircraft

By RFA Staff2024.11.19

A batch of five Beechcraft T-6C Texan II – the first military aircraft provided by the U.S. to Vietnam – has arrived in Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City, witnesses told Radio Free Asia.

One witness, who didn’t want to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, said he saw five training aircraft, all painted with Vietnamese air force markings, at the civilian airport in the southern hub but was told they’d be moved to a military airbase soon.

The flight tracking website Flightradar24 said the first of them landed at around midday on Monday after a nearly two-hour flight from Don Mueang airport in Bangkok where it had made a transit.

The Beechcraft T-6 Texan II is a single-engine turboprop aircraft built by Textron Aviation used for pilot training, especially those flying U.S fighter jets such as the F-16. Vietnam’s acquisition of them indicates possible F-16 purchases in the future, say analysts, in order to modernize its air force that has traditionally been dependent on Soviet-made hardware.

According to the manufacturer, the T-6 Texan II is a next generation military trainer designed for all instruction levels.

Vietnam ordered 12 brand-new T-6C Texan II aircraft, the export variant of the T-6, in 2021 in what was seen by observers as a big step forward since the end of the Vietnam War.

Washington only lifted its ban on the sales of lethal weapons to Vietnam in 2016. At Vietnam’s first defense expo in December 2022, then U.S. Ambassador Marc Knapper said his country wanted to be part of Hanoi’s efforts to globalize, diversify and modernize its armed forces.

Brigadier General Sarah Russ from the U.S. Pacific Air Force, or PACAF, told Vietnamese media in the same month that the training aircraft would be delivered during the 2024-2027 period.

“The arrival of the Beechcraft aircraft represents a small but important step forwards in Vietnam’s defense relations with America,” said Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

“However, it remains to be seen whether Vietnam will purchase any big-ticket items from the U.S. such as second-hand F-16s or whether it will stick with its more trusted partner Russia,” he added. “Newer U.S. planes, such as the F-35, are way out of Vietnam’s budget.”

Air force modernization

The five T-6C Texan II trainers left the U.S. early this month and flew via Europe and the Middle East before reaching Vietnam, according to Flightradar24.

A Vietnamese military source told RFA that they will be based with the 920 regiment at the Phan Thiet military airport in central Binh Thuan province.

Since the end of the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese air force has been operating a number of western aircraft seized from the South Vietnam military but the T-6C Texan II is the first direct purchase from the U.S.

Most of Vietnam’s warplanes have been supplied by the Soviet Union, and later Russia, among them 35 Sukhoi Su-30s and more than 30 Su-22s, the older variant.

Vietnam bought 12 Yak-130 jet trainers from Russia in 2019, leading to speculation that it might be ordering more advanced Russian fighters.

“Moscow is keen to sell Hanoi its Su-57 and Su-75 stealth fighters. But Western sanctions against Russia and problems in Russia’s defense sector will give Vietnam pause for thought,” Storey told RFA.

Another contributing factor is the safety record of Russian equipment.

In January, a Vietnam Air Force Su-22 tactical fighter-bomber lost control and crashed during a routine training flight in Quang Nam province.

This month, a Yak-130 training aircraft exploded mid-air in Binh Dinh province. Its two pilots managed to eject and survived.

Edited by Mike Firn.