How does Vietnam solve missile interception?

Tactical cruise missiles and ballistic missiles are becoming a major threat that Vietnam needs to consider interception solutions from today.

The explosion of science and technology has led to the development of high-tech weapons with the ability to attack further and more accurately. Of the high-tech weapons that are prevalent in the world, cruise missiles and tactical ballistic missiles are considered the most dangerous weapons.

In recent years, the Chinese military has carried out a modernization process with tremendous speed. Many high-tech weapons have joined the country's military, including cruise missiles and tactical ballistic missiles.

China has more than 1,500 DF-11 and DF-15 tactical ballistic missiles.

According to US intelligence sources, China has at least 1,500 DF-11 and DF-15 tactical ballistic missiles.

According to missilethreat.com, DF-11 missiles have a range of 280-350km, carrying warheads weighing 500-800km. Particularly, the DF-31A version has a range of about 500km, however, according to some sources, the range of DF-31A can reach 825km. Meanwhile, the DF-15 has a range of 600km, carrying warheads weighing 500-750kg, a DF-15A version with a range of 900km.

Most of these missiles are being deployed along the Taiwan Strait but can be deployed to other areas as needed.

With long range and equipped with modern navigation technology with relatively high accuracy, DF-11 and DF-15 are not only a threat to Taiwan but also to other countries in it. have Vietnam. If deployed near the border provinces of Vietnam, missiles range up to targets in the North Central region.

Besides, China has also successfully developed and put into operation an unknown number of missiles on the ground attack DH-10 and CJ-10, with a range of 1,500-2,500km, with source say DH-10 has a range of up to 4,000km. These types of missiles have a range of fire reaching South Central Vietnam.

In particular, the CJ-10 cruise missile is also equipped with China's H-6K strategic bombers. According to a Chinese defense research report in Kanwa Defense Review (based in Canada), if Beijing deploys H-6K in Hainan Island, not the Malaysian capital, Manila, Kuala Lumpur of Malaysia, but all Vietnamese territory will be threatened.

Missile interception problem for Vietnam

Modern battlefield experiences show that intercepting cruise missiles, tactical ballistic missiles is the key to preserving forces to maintain the ability to fight against the following attacks of the enemy.

CJ-10 cruise missiles on H-6K bombers can threaten most of Vietnam's territory.

The ground attack cruise missile is very dangerous, but it has a weak speed, low ceiling, so it is easy to be shot down. Tactical ballistic missiles are faster but can still be intercepted by modern air defense systems.

Intercepting cruise missiles and tactical ballistic missiles is really a difficult problem for Vietnam. Currently, there are not many types of arsenal in Vietnam that can handle missile interception missions, especially tactical ballistic missiles.

With ground-based cruise missiles, the first weapon to be intercepted is the ZSU-23-4 23mm self-propelled anti-aircraft gun . This was a high-speed anti-aircraft gun, it was equipped with 4 23-inch 2A7 guns with a firing rate of 1,000 / minute / gun. The 4 guns combined will give you up to 4,000 rounds per minute.

Vietnam's 9K35 Strela-10 self-propelled anti-aircraft missile complex is too thin to neutralize the threat from cruise missiles.

The ZSU-23-4 is equipped with an integrated fire control radar combined with a high rate of fire to create a dense screen to destroy the target. However, the ZSU-23-4 has a range of operations with air targets only about 2.5km. With the task of intercepting cruise missiles, the combat performance of the system is not high. On the other hand, the distance of 2.5km is too short to eliminate all threats from cruise missiles.

The next weapon that could be intercepted was the 9K32 Strela anti-aircraft missile (Vietnam called A-72), 9K38 Igla (A-87). The missile is equipped with passive infrared probe, which can follow all heat emission targets. However, the range of A-72 is relatively limited, only about 2.5km. On the other hand, the operational efficiency of this type of missile depends on the skill of the gunner so the effect is not high.

The most capable weapon system in intercepting cruise missiles of Vietnam is the 9K35 Strela-10 non-self-propelled missile complex. However, in order to optimize interception efficiency, other options should still be considered.

In order to neutralize the threat from cruise missiles, Vietnam could consider the air defense system without integrating Russian Pantsir-S1. This system is named as the "pure engraving" of cruise missiles. Pantsir-S1 is equipped with 2 rapid-fire 2A38M guns with a firing rate of 2,500 tablets per minute and 12 supersonic missiles 57E6.

Pantsir-S1 is equipped with a built-in target search radar and fire control on the same system with high maneuverability that can disable all types of current ground attack missiles within 20km with a height of 15km.

With target kill efficiency of 70-95%, the presence of Pantsir-S1 system can reduce the performance of cruise missiles at the corresponding rate. Pantsir-S1 along with unavailable room systems will solve Vietnam's cruise missile problem.

Buk-M2E, Pantsir-S1, S-400 Triumf are weapons systems that can solve Vietnam's missile interception problem.

With tactical ballistic missiles, the interception is more difficult because the rocket has a relatively high rate of re-entry into the atmosphere. Vietnam's S-300 system can intercept tactical ballistic missiles and mid-range ballistic missiles, but the S-300 is too thin to handle this task.

To solve the tactical ballistic interception problem, an air defense system suitable for Vietnam is Buk-M2E. This is a portable mid-range air defense system, equipped with 9M317ME missile ammunition to attack high-speed targets such as tactical ballistic missiles.

Buk-M2E can attack targets within 45km with a 32km height. Tests in Russia show that Buk-M2E has a 60-70% chance of intercepting tactical ballistic missiles.

Further, Vietnam can take into account the investment solution of S-400Triumf super-range air defense system. This system is designed with the ability to destroy all airborne targets within 400km. Currently, the S-400 Triumf is a key component in Russia's ballistic missile defense system.

Besides investing in interceptor weapons, missile early warning radar is an extremely important component. If the missile launch cannot be detected early, all interception attempts are meaningless. Currently, Vietnam's 55Zh6UE NEBO-UE radar can operate as an early warning system of cruise missiles and tactical ballistic missiles.

However, in order to establish a more professional interceptor system, Vietnam can invest in Israel's early warning radar system EL / M-2080 Green Pine in conjunction with S-300, similar to Korea's Use the EL / M-2080 radar in combination with the PAC-2 Patriot to create their own interceptor system.

An interceptor missile or anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a missile designed to fight ballistic missiles (a missile for missile defense). A ballistic missile is used to carry nuclear, chemical, biological warheads or conventional warheads, missiles will fly in orbit. The term "ballistic missile" describes any missile system designed to block ballistic missiles. However, the term is more popular than the mention of ballistic anti-ballistic missile (ABM) systems designed to block and destroy long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads ( ICBM).