At 3 a.m. at Phu Cat Air Base in Gia Lai province, preparations for the exercise were carried out urgently and thoroughly. After starting their engines and conducting technical inspections, fighter jets and helicopters were refueled, loaded with bombs and ammunition, and readied for takeoff. Amid the roar of engines along the runway, Senior Lieutenant General Pham Truong Son, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Viet Nam People’s Army, visited and encouraged the young pilots, sharing his experience and inspiring them ahead of the mission. His practical experience as a veteran pilot who had held various command positions and directly flown and commanded modern combat aircraft in large-scale live-fire bombing exercises gave the young pilots additional confidence as they climbed into their cockpits.
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Senior Lieutenant General Pham Truong Son, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Viet Nam People’s Army, encourages and shares experience with young pilots participating in the exercise. |
At exactly 6:30 a.m., in the soft light of dawn, a formation of two Su-30MK2 fighters piloted by experienced pilots from Regiment 935 of Air Division 370 took off immediately after receiving clearance from the air traffic control tower. Minutes later, at the National Military Training Center No.2, the aircraft descended to a low altitude and simultaneously dropped bombs on targets positioned along a low mountain slope, before rapidly climbing and making another pass to fire rockets. Beneath the aircraft, flashes of red fire and straight trails of white smoke streaked toward the targets.
“Target hit. Congratulations!” The announcement confirming the results of the first formation’s live-fire bombing and rocket-launching provided a major boost to the other formations as they continued striving to successfully complete their missions.
After landing safely, pilots were warmly congratulated and presented with flowers by their commanders and comrades.
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A fighter drops bombs to destroy targets during the exercise. |
One sortie after another, Su-30MK2 and Su-27 aircraft piloted by Nguyen Huu Duy, Le Tran Hoa, Do Vu Cong, Dong Xuan Hung, Vi Xuan Hung, Nguyen Hong Quan, Hoang Anh Tu, Nguyen Van Ky, and their comrades continuously took off, maneuvered into the target range, dropped bombs, launched rockets, and destroyed their assigned targets. At the observation post, all eyes were fixed on the target range as personnel closely monitored the results of each formation’s live-fire bombing and rocket-launching.
By late morning, after the fighter jets had successfully completed their exercise missions, Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters piloted by Pham Khac Phuc, Nguyen Van Dung, Hoang Manh Hung, Tran Minh Phu, Nguyen Xuan Loc, and others successively took off from Phu Cat Air Base, launched rockets, and destroyed all ground targets. Although the sun grew increasingly intense, the pilots remained highly focused in their cockpits, determined to aim straight at the enemy and fire accurately from the very first rounds.
Through solidarity, close coordination, and collective achievement, the night flight sessions for live-fire bombing and rocket-launching against ground targets at the National Military Training Center No.2 also successfully fulfilled their assigned missions the following evening.
Directly commanding and directing the exercise, Lieutenant General Vu Hong Son, Commander of the ADAF Service, said that the live-fire exercise for various aircraft was designed to assess pilots’ combat application of flying skills in attacking ground targets by day and night, as well as the command, flight-command, and combat coordination capabilities of commanders, staff agencies, and pilots (flight crews) while employing live weapons. The exercise also provided valuable lessons for directing and organizing flight training, thereby improving the participating units’ combat readiness and combat capabilities.
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A helicopter launches rockets to destroy targets during the exercise. |
Lieutenant General Vu Hong Son added that the exercise showed that the professional skills, mettle, coordination capabilities, mastery of modern aircraft and equipment, and combat coordination skills of fighter and helicopter pilots had continued to improve, meeting task requirements in the new situation. Many young pilots participating in live-fire bombing and rocket-launching exercises for the first time successfully completed their assigned tasks.
On the martial land of Tay Son in Gia Lai province, the success of the exercise was a vivid demonstration of the professional skills, mettle, coordination, and collective achievement of military pilots. It contributed to firmly safeguarding the sky, the sea, the border, and islands of the Fatherland.
Translated by Minh Anh