Vietnam shifts gears on arms trade as it loosens ties with Russia

HANOI – Vietnam is eyeing a major defence shift as it seeks to reduce its reliance on Russian arms and launch a push to export locally made weapons, with possible buyers in Africa, Asia – and potentially even Moscow.

But that is changing as Vietnam strives to become more self-sufficient, obtain advanced gear that Russia can’t provide, andInstead, Vietnam is turning to suppliers from Europe, East Asia, India, Israel and the United States. It has also boosted its domestic military industry with support from Israel and other partners, and hopes to export weapons.

They include Western companies such as US defence contractor Lockheed Martin and France’s Nexter, and defence groups from Israel, India, Japan and the United Arab Emirates. Last week, the defence ministry in its official newspaper said the state-owned Z111 military firm would exhibit pistols, machine guns, assault rifles and sniper rifles at the arms fair, with the aim of exporting them.

Prof Phuong said Latin American countries and other South-east Asian nations are other potential customers. Imports from Russia have dropped every year since then, except in 2021, when they slightly recovered after the 2020 nadir. That year, the Covid-19 pandemic reduced Vietnam’s military imports to only US$32 million, of which US$9 million worth were Russian arms.

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