Monitoring the 21st Century Asian Arms Race

Vietnam Keeps A Huge Artillery Stockpile

NOVEMBER 11, 2022

tags: 122mm howitzer, 155mm howitzer, Southeast Asia, Soviet artillery, towed howitzer, Vietnamese

(https://21stcenturyasianarmsrace.files.wordpress.com/2022/11/vietnamese-122mm-m1938-
howitzers-storage-2022.jpg)
M-30
howitzers
in storage.
Via
Vietnamese
media.

Since its reunification in 1975 huge quantities of conventional weapons

(https://21stcenturyasianarmsrace.com/2019/12/10/the-vietnamese-army-maintains-an-armada-of-
tanks/) have been stored across the country and refurbished for continued use. But it was only in the
past decade when evidence of this long-standing effort began to emerge online. What is now revealed
in the public domain through state media is an astonishing cycle of repair and maintenance for an
inventory most countries would struggle to match. So far, proof of a thriving armaments sector
focused on basic infantry equipment (https://21stcenturyasianarmsrace.com/2018/09/05/vietnam-
builds-so-many-weapons-for-its-army/)is abundant. But what hasn’t received enough attention is
another vital aspect of Vietnam’s military preparedness: vintage towed artillery.
Although there are a multitude of choices for towed heavy artillery
(https://21stcenturyasianarmsrace.com/2020/02/05/india-makes-a-lot-of-its-own-artillery/) such as
155mm howitzers–excluding North America, these are manufactured in 18 different countries–
Vietnam’s defense ministry haven’t procured a brand new system in 50 years. This avoidance is
understandable when their current inventory is assessed. Thanks to the online presence of state
media, including the armed forces’ own news agency, there are now helpful references on how vast
the artillery collection is. In one storage site featured in a news clip this year at least several dozen
Soviet vintage M-30 and US-made M101 however were kept in impeccable condition. (See photo
above.)

Since North Vietnam received material support from the Soviet Union and the rest of the Communist
Bloc from the 1950s onward its army ended up collecting every known caliber that originated from
World War 2 and beyond. The M-30, for example, is a 122mm towed howitzer mass-produced from
1938 onward and its production was even transferred to China where several thousand more
(https://21stcenturyasianarmsrace.com/2022/01/31/china-keeps-thousands-of-old-howitzers-in-
storage/) rolled out of state-owned factories. Although the M-30 is an 80-year-old design and is
outdated it’s renowned for its constant use with armies in any circumstances. Since World War 2 its
combat record stretches all the way to the Syrian Civil War (2011-present) and as recently as the
conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in 2020.

(https://21stcenturyasianarmsrace.files.wordpress.com/2022/11/image.png)
M-46
howitzers
in storage.
Via
Vietnamese
media.

Other Soviet vintage howitzers maintained by Vietnam’s army are the D-20, D-30, D-44, D-74, M-46,
ZiS-3 and by extension an uncounted anti-aircraft artillery
(https://21stcenturyasianarmsrace.com/2021/06/25/iraqi-anti-aircraft-guns-are-back-in-business/)
stockpile in the calibers 14.5mm, 23mm, 37mm, 57mm, and 100mm. The rocket artillery in service
with Vietnam’s army is just as diverse and includes the BM-14 and BM-21 mobile launchers. Of
course, until relations nosedived in the late 1970s, China also supplied North Vietnam with sufficient
large caliber weaponry and ordnance to sustain its war effort against the United States and South
Vietnam. A curious addition to the artillery still in service are the outdated ASU-85 and SU-100 “tank
destroyers” or tracked field guns that are in perfect working order.

The army also keeps a substantial collection of US-made towed howitzers although the self-propelled
M107’s that mount 175mm guns captured after 1975 are believed to have been retired. Vietnam’s US-
made artillery spans the familiar 105mm M101 and the 155mm M114 that were both introduced in
World War 2. The same models are widely used throughout Asia and, much like their Soviet
counterparts, are renowned for remaining usable across decades. South Korea’s own ground force
(https://21stcenturyasianarmsrace.com/2021/07/27/do-not-trifle-with-south-korean-artillery/) was so
reliant on either model, for example, that it spun off locally made variants (the KH178 and KH179)
that are now exported. What’s perplexing about Vietnam’s long-term program to maintain an
artillery stockpile is they have multiple sites equipped to overhaul and repair the diverse models and
even have ammunition factories to sustain them but there still isn’t any discernible program for
updating the artillery with redesigned barrels when the production and tooling for the job is at hand.

Vietnam’s army is in the middle of transitioning to self-propelled howitzers

(https://21stcenturyasianarmsrace.com/2020/07/22/the-pla-are-rapidly-adopting-this-truck-
howitzer/). Its preferred models are locally made hybrids based on wheeled transports. The exact
number of towed howitzers in service is hard to estimate although, if mortars, recoilless rifles, and
rocket launchers are set aside, the inventory reaches several thousand.
from → Artillery, Asia, Russia, Vietnam
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