The Vietnam Air Defence - Air Force (Vietnam ADAF or VN ADAF; ), officially the Air Defence - Air Force Service (ADAF Service; ), also commonly known as the Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF; ) or the Vietnam Air Force (), is the air, anti-air and space warfare service branch of Vietnam. It is the modern incarnation of the so-called North Vietnamese Air Force (NVAF) and absorbed the South Vietnamese Air Force (RVNAF/VNAF) following the reunification of Vietnam in 1975. It is one of three main branches of the People's Army of Vietnam, which is under the executive administration of the Ministry of National Defence. The main mission of the ADAF is the defence of Vietnamese aerospace and the provision of air and space cover for operations of the People's Army of Vietnam.
The modern ADAF consists of two principle components: the Air Defence (AD; , mainly operating air-defence radars, anti-air artillery and missile systems) and the Air Force (AF; , mainly operating aerial vehicles and military aircraft for combat and transport) that are currently organised as separate divisions under the ADAF Headquarters. From 1977 to 1999, the components were split into two different service branches, before remerging as the existing unified ADAF Service in 1999, placing both components under a unified leadership to facilitate joint operations. The common name Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF; ) was largely the name for the Air Force component only, especially during the days that the two AD and AF services were structured two separate service branches. VPAF later became a relatively-common "external" name for the unified service which implicitly includes the AD branch; however, this usage rarely appears in official context, especially when the AD component never refer itself as the "Air Force", while the VPAF designation is currently used in a limited manner among AF units. Hence, interchangeably calling the Vietnamese ADAF as "the VPAF" can be considered a misconception about the nature and formation of the service branch.
History
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. A small-scale training was carried out in the following years.
Further development of aviation in North Vietnam began in 1956, when a number of trainees were sent to the USSR and China for pilot training. They were organised into two groups, pilots and mechanics, respectively; and among others, utilised the Czechoslovak Zlín Z-226 and Aero Ae-45. The first unit of the VPAF was the No. 919 Transport Regiment (Trung đoàn Không quân Vận tải 919), organised on 1 May 1959, with An-2, Li-2, Il-14 aircraft, followed by the No. 910 Training Regiment (Trung đoàn Không quân 910) with Yak-18 trainers. In 1963 the Air Force and Air Defence Force were merged into the Air and Air Defence Force (Quân chủng Phòng không – Không quân).
Vietnam War
The first North Vietnamese combat plane was a T-28 Trojan trainer, whose pilot defected from the Royal Lao Air Force; it was utilised from early 1964 by the VPAF as a night fighter. The T-28 was the first North Vietnamese aircraft to shoot down a US aircraft, a Fairchild C-123 Provider transport, on 15 February 1964.
The VPAF received its first jet fighter aircraft, the MiG-17 in February 1964, but they were initially stationed at air bases on mainland China, while their pilots were being trained. On 3 February 1964, the first fighter regiment No. 921 (Trung đoàn Không quân Tiêm kích 921), aka "Red Star squadron", was formed, and on 6 August it arrived in North Vietnam with its MiG-17s. On 7 September, the No. 923 fighter regiment, aka "Yen The Squadron", led by Lt. Col. Nguyen Phuc Trach, was formed. In May 1965, No. 16 bomber company (Đại đội Không quân Ném bom 16) was formed with Ilyushin Il-28 twin engine bombers. Only one Il-28 sortie was flown in 1972 against Royal Laotian forces.
The VPAF's first jet air-to-air engagement with U.S. aircraft was on 3 April 1965. The VPAF claimed shooting down two United States Navy (USN) Vought F-8 Crusaders, which was not confirmed by U.S. sources, although they acknowledged having encountered MiGs. Consequently, 3 April became "North Vietnamese Air Force Day". On 4 April the VPAF scored the first confirmed victories to be acknowledged by both sides. The U.S. fighter community was shocked when relatively slow, MiG-17 fighters shot down advanced Republic F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bombers attacking the Thanh Hóa Bridge. The F-105s were carrying their normal heavy bomb load, and were not able to react to their attackers.
In 1965, the VPAF were supplied with supersonic MiG-21s by the USSR which were used for high-speed Ground-controlled interception (GCI) controlled hit and run intercepts against American air strike groups.
In 1965, the VPAF had only 36 MiG-17s and a similar number of qualified pilots, which increased to 180 MiGs and 72 pilots by 1968. The Americans had at least 200 USAF McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms and 140 USAF F-105s, plus at least 100 USN aircraft (F-8s, Douglas A-4 Skyhawks and F-4s) which operated from the aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin, plus scores of other support aircraft. The Americans had a multiple numerical advantage.
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.
On 12 January 1968, in one of the few offensive air attacks by the VPAF during the entire conflict, the Battle of Lima Site 85, a four aircraft formation of An-2 biplanes was reported flying towards a secret USAF TACAN and radar site in Laos guiding American bombers over North Vietnam. Two aircraft flew on to the strike, while the other two split off.Chauhan, p. 25 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.Hamilton-Merritt, p.180 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.Hamilton-Merritt, p. 181 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). The culmination of the struggle in the air was 10 May 1972, when the VPAF aircraft completed 64 sorties, engaging in 15 air battles. The VPAF claimed seven F-4s were shot down (the U.S. confirmed five F-4s were lost). 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.
Over the course of the air war, between 3 April 1965Anderton 1987, pp. 70–71. 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)