Early years The first aircraft in service for the Vietnamese Armed Forces were two trainers, a
de Havilland Tiger Moth and a
Morane-Saulnier, which were initially the private property of the emperor
Bảo Đại. In 1945, Bảo Đại gave the aircraft to the Vietnamese government. Until 1950, even though the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) had acquired credible offensive capabilities on the ground, it was almost powerless against reconnaissance or attacking operations from the
French Expeditionary Air Force. On 9 March 1949, General
Võ Nguyên Giáp was authorised to establish
the Air Force Research Committee (Ban Nghiên cứu Không quân) under the General Staff to study ways to deal with the air war. The first Vietnamese service aircraft flight was made by the Tiger Moth on 15 August 1949. The VPAF was a defensive air arm, with the primary mission of defending North Vietnam, and until the last stages of the war, did not conduct air operations into South Vietnam; nor did it conduct general offensive actions against enemy naval forces off the coast. The VPAF did not engage all U.S. sorties. Most U.S. aircraft were destroyed by
SA-2 surface-to-air missiles or
anti-aircraft artillery (AAA), and in some cases, even small arms. Typically, VPAF MiGs would not engage unless it was to their advantage. VPAF flew their interceptors with guidance from ground controllers, who positioned the MiGs in ambush stations. The MiGs made fast and devastating attacks against U.S. formations from several directions (usually the MiG-17s performed head-on attacks and the MiG-21s attacked from the rear). After shooting down a few American planes and forcing some of the bombers to drop their bombs prematurely, the MiGs did not wait for retaliation, but disengaged rapidly. This "
guerrilla warfare in the air" proved very successful. In December 1966 the MiG-21 pilots of the 921st FR downed 14 F-105s without any losses. The MiG-21 tactics became so effective that ultimately an operation was mounted to especially deal with the MiG-21 threat. Led by Colonel
Robin Olds on 2 January 1967,
Operation Bolo lured MiG-21s into the air, thinking they were intercepting an F-105 strike group, but instead found a sky full of missile-armed F-4 Phantom IIs set for aerial combat. The result was a loss of almost half the inventory of MiG-21 interceptors, for no U.S. losses. The VPAF swiftly stood down for additional training immediately following this setback. The U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy continued to lay down great expectations on the F-4 Phantom, assuming that the massive arms, the perfect on-board radar, the highest speed and acceleration properties, coupled with the new tactics would provide F-4s an advantage over the MiGs. But in encounters with lighter VPAF's MiG-21, F-4 began to suffer defeat. From May to December 1966, the US lost 47 aircraft in air battles, destroying only 12 enemy fighters. From April 1965 to November 1968, in 268 air battles conducted over North Vietnam, VPAF claimed to have shot down 244 US or
Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) aircraft and they lost 85 MiGs. The disappointing performances of USAF and USN crews, even though flying the contemporary advanced aircraft of those times, combined with a legacy of successes from World War II and the
Korean War, resulted in a total revamping of aerial combat training for the USN in 1968 (
Top Gun school; established 1969). The designs for an entire generation of aircraft, with engineering optimised for daylight air-to-air combat (dog fighting) against both older, as well as for emerging MiG fighters, were put on the drawing board. U.S. forces could not consistently track low flying MiGs on radar, and were hampered by restrictive
rules of engagement (ROE) which required pilots to visually acquire their targets, nullifying much of the advantage of radar guided missiles, which often proved unreliable when used in combat. On 24 March 1967, regiments Nos. 921, 923 and 919 were incorporated into the 371st Air Division "Thăng Long" (
Sư đoàn Không quân 371). In 1969, No. 925 fighter regiment was formed, flying the
Shenyang J-6 (the Chinese-built
MiG-19). In 1972 the fourth fighter regiment, No. 927 "Lam Son", was formed. As the two continuing An-2s flew over, their crews dropped 120 mm mortar shells as bombs through the aircraft's floor and also strafed their targets with 57 mm rockets from the wing pods. However, as the two aircraft flew back and forth attacking the facility, one aircraft was heavily damaged by ground fire from the facility and crashed. Meanwhile, crew at Lima Site 85 managed to call in a nearby
Air America helicopter; a crew member aboard the helicopter armed with an assault rifle fired on the last biplane and caused it to crash. The site was eventually overrun by
People's Army of Vietnam commando climbers. In the spring and summer of 1972, 360 USAF fighters and 96 USN fighters, a great number of which were F-4s of recent modifications, opposed only 71 VPAF aircraft (including 31 MiG-21).). However, U.S. jets managed to shoot down two MiG-21s, three MiG-17s and one MiG-19. On 11 May, two MiG-21s, which played the role of "bait", brought four F-4 to two MiG-21s circling at low altitude, the MiGs attacked the F-4s and three missiles shot down two F-4. On 18 May, VPAF aircraft made 26 sorties in eight air engagements, which cost the U.S. four F-4s; VPAF fighters on that day did not suffer losses. On 13 June, a MiG-21 unit intercepted a group of F-4s, the second pair of MiGs made a missile attack and was hit by two F-4s and did not suffer losses. and 8 January 1973, each side would ultimately claim favourable kill ratios. A total of 201 air battles took place between American and Vietnamese planes in 1972 sorties. The VPAF lost 54 MiGs (including 36 MiG-21s and one MiG-21U) and they claimed 90 U.S. aircraft were shot down, including 74 F-4 fighters and two RF-4C (MiG-21s shot down 67 enemy aircraft, MiG-17s shot down 11 and MiG-19s shot down 12 enemy aircraft) US Navy ace
Randy Cunningham believed that he shot down a Mig-17 piloted by the mythical "
Nguyen Toon" or "Colonel Tomb" while flying his F-4. However, no research has been able to identify Col. Tomb's existence; Cunningham most likely downed a flight leader of the 923rd Regiment. Legend states Col. Toon had allegedly downed 13 US aircraft during his tenure. Many VPAF pilots were not only skilled but unorthodox, as Cunningham found out after making elementary tactical errors. The resulting dogfight became extended. Cunningham climbed steeply, and the MiG pilot surprised Cunningham by climbing as well. Cunningham finally forced the MiG out ahead of him and destroyed it. In fact, there wasn't any pilot in VPAF named Nguyễn Toon, he was a fictional character of the American pilots and they often made jokes with the dissertation. An invention of the American pilots, Colonel Toon was a combination of good pilots in Vietnam, like the "solo artist" lonely night bombing in World War II was called
Washing Machine Charlie. On 19 April 1972 in the
Battle of Đồng Hới two MiG-17s attacked several USN warships causing minor damage to the . The USN claimed to have shot down one MiG with SAMs, while the VPAF claims both aircraft returned safely to base. On 22 April USN jets attacked
Khe Gát Airfield, where the attack was launched from, destroying one MiG-17 on the ground and damaging a second. There were several times during the war that the US bombing restrictions of VPAF airfields were lifted. Many VPAF aircraft were destroyed on the ground, and those that were not, were withdrawn to a sanctuary in the north west of the country or into China. In December 1972, during
Operation Linebacker II the North Vietnamese air defences used their supply of SAMs trying to down the high-flying
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress raids over the north. The North Vietnamese Air Defence Network was degraded by
electronic countermeasures (ECM) and other
suppression of Enemy Air Defences (SEAD) measures. Though the North Vietnamese forces claim over 81 U.S. aircraft shot down, (including 34 B-52s, two attributed to the VPAF),, U.S sources acknowledge only 27 aircraft lost (including 15 B-52s). During the 12 days of the Operation Linebacker II (18–29 December), during the eight air battles seven US aircraft (including four F-4s) and three VPAF MiG-21s were shot down.). Using those figures, total kill ratio would be 1:1.3 to 1:2. With the number of losses to MiGs confirmed by US (121 aircraft shot down and 7 damaged According to
Dana Drenkowski and
Lester W. Grau, the number of U.S. aircraft lost confirmed by themself is unconfirmed since the U.S. figures are also suspect. If a plane was badly damaged, but managed to land, the USAF did not count as a loss, even if it was too damaged to fly again.
Post-war developments After the end of the Vietnam War in May 1975, more regiments were formed. No. 935 fighter regiment "Đồng Nai" and no. 937 fighter-bomber regiment "Hậu Giang", followed by no. 918 transport regiment "Hong Ha" and no. 917 mixed transport regiment "Đồng Tháp" were created in July 1975. In September 1975, the four newly created regiments were formed into the 370nd Air Division "Lê Lợi" and the 372nd Air Division "Hai Van" was formed, including among others the 925th fighter regiment. When
Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1979, former RVNAF A-37s flew most of the ground support missions. These aircraft were more suited to the role than the MiGs. Former VNAF F-5Es, C-123s,
Lockheed C-130 Hercules and UH-1 helicopters were used by the VPAF for many years after the end of the War. In the years between 1953 and 1991, approximately 700 warplanes, 120 helicopters and 158 missile complexes were supplied to North Vietnam/Vietnam by the USSR and China (primarily the MiG-19 (J-6 series). Even today, three-quarters of Vietnamese weaponry has been made in post-
Cold War Russia. Today the VPAF is in the midst of modernisation. It still operates late model
Su-22s, aircraft of the Cold War era. However, it has recently been modernising its air force with models of the
Su-27-SK air superiority fighter following closer military ties, and an array of arms deals with Russia. To date, Vietnam has ordered and received 12 of these aircraft. In 2004, it acquired four modified variants of the
Su-30 MK2V, newer models of the Su-27. In May 2009, they signed a deal to procure additional 12 aircraft from the Russians to bolster their ageing fleet. The air force has also acquired new advanced air defence systems, including two
S-300 PMU1 (NATO designation:
SA-20) short-to-high altitude SAM batteries in a deal worth $300 million with Russia. With the lifting of the US embargo on lethal weapons exports to Vietnam, the first lethal Western arms procured were Israeli-sourced medium-range SAM-system
SPYDER-MR. First deliveries began in 2016. In 2022, Vietnam reached an agreement with the United States for 12
Beechcraft T-6 Texan II trainer aircraft. In 2023, the United States opened up the possibility of F-16 sale to Vietnam following a
Joe Biden visit. In February 2022, Viettel was awarded to develop remote sensing satellites. ==Organization==