Vietnam Looks at India for BrahMos, Other Weapons

India is looking at Vietnam to sell its supersonic BrahMos missiles as Hanoi seeks to diversify its arms purchases from traditional suppliers such as Russia and the U.S.

Vietnam has been showing keen interest in the BrahMos missiles and its variants, and a Vietnamese delegation led by Senior Lieutenant General Phung Si Tan, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) visited the BrahMos pavilion at the just concluded DSA 2024 in Kuala Lumpur.
“He was apprised of the weapon’s formidable capabilities,” an official at the Ministry of Defence said.

Vietnam flies many Su-30 fighter jets, and that the BrahMos missile version for the aircraft could be suitable for the country. He added that the BrahMos missile for the Su-30MKI fighter is currently available only in India and not even in Russia.

The BrahMos missile is jointly developed by India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation and the Russian Federation’s NPO Mashinostroyeniya, a rocket design bureau based in Reutov, Russia.

From 1995 to 2015, Russia provided 90 per cent of Vietnam’s arms procurements, but from 2016 to 2021, Russia’s share dropped to 63 per cent. Vietnam’s desire to deepen strategic relations with the United States may be encouraging it to reduce dependence on Russian arms, but it also follows the broader regional trend of diversifying suppliers.

Recently, Vietnam has turned to India for its defence requirements. A couple of years back, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh paid a three-day visit to Hanoi to strengthen defence and security ties with Vietnam’s National Defence General Phan Van Giang. The two sides discussed regional security issues and signed agreements to expand their defence engagement.

“The two defence ministers also signed the ‘Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030’, which will significantly enhance the scope and scale of existing defence cooperation,” an official at the India’s Ministry of Defence said.

India and Vietnam also signed an MoU, focused on mutual logistics support to enable the two countries to use each other’s military bases to repair and replenish supplies. According to the official, this agreement is “the first such major agreement which Vietnam has signed with any country.”

The arrangement will mainly benefit the Indian Navy as it ramps up its profile in the Indo-Pacific. Both the ministers also agreed for early finalisation of $US500 million Defence Line of Credit to Vietnam. Implementation of the projects shall add substantially to Vietnam’s Defence capabilities.

As part of the US$ 500 million LoC, India has offered Vietnam BrahMos cruise missiles, Akash missile air defence system, Varunastra anti-submarine torpedoes, and coastal radars.  According to Dr. Sameer Patil, a Senior Fellow at ORF Mumbai, both countries have been in talks about the Akash system since 2017, as Vietnam is looking to replace its ageing Soviet-era S-125/S-75 mid-tier surface-to-air missile systems.

“More likely is the purchase of BrahMos missiles, co-developed by India and Russia. After bagging its first export order for the missile from the Philippines earlier this year, India is keen to maintain the momentum by aggressively pitching the missile system to Hanoi. This export push serves the dual purpose of boosting India’s defence industry and arming a key Southeast Asian nation that keeps China on edge,” Dr Patil noted.

Under an earlier Line of Credit of $US100 million, India delivered over 12 High Speed Guard Boats to Vietnam during the Indian defence minister’s visit to Hong Ha Shipyard in Hai Phong on June 9, 2022. The initial five boats were built in the Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Shipyard in India and the other seven in Hong Ha Shipyard.

The defence minister also announced gifting two simulators and monetary grant towards setting up of Language and IT Lab at Air Force Officers Training School for capacity building of Vietnamese Armed Forces.

India and Vietnam have shared a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership since 2016 and defence cooperation is a key pillar of this partnership. Vietnam is an important partner in India’s Act East policy and the Indo-Pacific vision. Both countries share a rich history of civilisational and cultural linkages spanning over 2,000 years.

Bilateral defence engagements between the two countries have expanded over a period of time to include wide-ranging contacts between the two countries, including Defence Policy Dialogues, military to military exchanges, high level visits, capacity building and training programs, cooperation in UN Peace Keeping, ship visits and bilateral exercises.