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Republic of Vietnam

South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam, is a state which governs the southern half of Vietnam. It received international recognition in 1949 as the "State of Vietnam" (1949–55), and later as the "Republic of Vietnam". Its capital is Saigon. The term "South Vietnam" became common usage in 1954, when the Geneva Conference partitioned Vietnam into communist and non-communist parts.

South Vietnam's origins can be traced to the French colony of Cochinchina, which consisted of the southern third of Vietnam and was a subdivision of French Indochina. After World War II, the Viet Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh, proclaimed the establishment of a Communist nation in Hanoi. In 1949, non-communist Vietnamese politicians formed a rival government in Saigon led by former emperor Bảo Đại. Bảo Đại was deposed by Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm in 1955, who proclaimed himself president after areferendum. After Diệm was deposed in a military coup in 1963, there was a series of short-lived military governments. General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu led the country from 1967 until 1975. The Vietnam War began in 1959 with an uprising by Viet Cong forces supplied by North Vietnam. Fighting climaxed during the Tet Offensive of 1968, when there were over 1.5 million South Vietnamese soldiers and 500,000 U.S. soldiers in South Vietnam. Despite a peace treaty in January 1973 minor wars and border skirmishes have been sporadic.

Government
South Vietnam has a government divided into three branches: executive, judicial, and legislative. The executive and legislative branches operate primarily at the national level, although various ministries in the executive branch also carry out local functions. Local governments are semi-autonomous, and contain executive and legislative bodies of their own. The judicial branch operates at both the national and local levels. South Vietnam is a constitutional democracy.

Economy
The Republic of Vietnam is a developed country with a high-income economy and is the most industrialised member country of the OECD. Despite the South Vietnamese economy's high growth potential and apparent structural stability, the country suffers damage to its credit rating in the stock market because of the belligerence of North Vietnam in times of deep military crises, which has an adverse effect on South Vietnamese financial markets.

Vietnam has been, for much of its history, a predominantly agricultural civilization based on wet rice cultivation. There is also an industry for Bauxite mining in Vietnam, an important material for the production of aluminum. Manufacturing, information technology and high-tech industries now form a large and fast-growing part of the national economy.

Transportation, Energy and Infrastructure
South Vietnam has a technologically advanced transport network consisting of high-speed railways, highways, bus routes, ferry services, and air routes that criss-cross the country. Vietnam Expressway Corporation operates the toll highways and service amenities en route.

Republic of Vietnam Military Forces
The Republic of Vietnam Military Forces or RVNMF are the official armed defense forces of the Republic of Vietnam (RVN). The QLVNCH is responsible for the defense of South Vietnam since its independence from France in October 1955.

The QLVNCH was formally established on December 30, 1955 by the Strongman and republican first President of the Republic of Vietnam (known simply as ‘South Vietnam’) Ngo Dinh Diem, which he declared on 26 October that year after winning a rigged referendum for either making South Vietnam a constitutional monarchy, or a presidential republic. Created out from ex-French Union Army colonial Indochinese auxiliary units, gathered earlier on July 1951 into the French-led Vietnamese National Army – VNA, the armed forces of the new state consisted in the mid-1950s of ground, air, and naval branches of service, respectively:

• Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)
• Republic of Vietnam Air Force (VNAF)
• Republic of Vietnam Navy (VNN)

Their roles were defined as follows: to protect the sovereignty of the free Vietnamese nation and that of the Republic; to maintain the political and social order and the rule of law by providing internal security; to defend the newly independent Republic of Vietnam from external and internal threats.

Modernization
In 1964 after Nguyễn Cao Kỳ became prime minister and Nguyễn Văn Thiệu became head of state, and do to the reluctance of the US to equip the Vietnamese armed forces with the latest equipment they realized that they couldn’t rely only on the US for weapon supply, and also they couldn’t take the risk of having the US armed forces fight South Vietnam’s war with the possibility of the US government taking its forces out of Vietnam at any time.

Even though there were problems acquiring the equipment they wanted, the Vietnamese government did manage to acquire a considerable amount of hardware from the United States through the military assistance program (MAP), even though some of the equipment wasn’t suited for the Vietnamese needs it did allow the Vietnamese Armed Forces to reorganize and start to become a more effective force. Among the hardware the Vietnamese received were their first supersonic fighters in the form of the Northrop F-5A Freedom Fighter, although the VNAF was a little disappointed since it had asked for the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II but the US government refused. The first F-5’s arrived at Bien Hoa airbase in October 1965 and were quickly organized into squadron’s, pilots immediately liked the aircraft for its agility and technicians liked it because of its ease of maintenance, but the VNAF leadership feared the small fighters lack of punch and range would be a problem if they needed to attack targets deep inside North Vietnam. To cover the perceived need for a larger strike aircraft the VNAF started talks with different manufacturers to explore the different alternatives to fill the VNAF’s need for a strike aircraft. Among the aircraft considered for the role were the A-7 Corsair II, the BAC TSR.2, the F-111 and the Buccaneer. The latter was chosen in late 1965 mainly because it was a proven design then in widespread service with the Royal Navy and the South African Air Force and of the aircraft considered it was the only one already flying. An initial order for 16 was placed in November 1965 with deliveries beginning in June 1966.

By early 1965 it was becoming increasingly obvious that self-sufficiency had to be considered as an option for the future, since difficulties in obtaining modern aircraft and weapons from the US would only increase. Self-sufficiency would obviously include the establishment of an indigenous aircraft industry, something which did not exist at that stage. Vietnams Consortium of Aeronautics and Vietnamese Defence Industries were consequently registered as state-owned corporations in 1964.

VCA, a commercial enterprise, was formed specifically to manufacture jet trainers and helicopters for the VNAF, and to provide the VNAF with first-line maintenance facilities for its aircraft and engines, and to provide skilled technical personnel to support the VNAF at its bases. Soon after the formation of VCA, an agreement was reached with Italy’s Aermacchi and France’s Sud Aviation, under which VCA would license-produce the MB326 jet trainer, the Alouette III Light utility helicopter, and the Super Frelon heavy lift helicopter.

A production plant was established adjacent to the Tan Son Nhat International Airport, but the first MB326’s and helicopters were Italian and French manufactured respectively and were imported in knocked-down form. Assembly of the first MB326 trainer took place at Bien Hoa AFB while production facilities were being established at VCA. The first VNAF MB326 made its first flight in November 1965 with the first French helicopters following two weeks later. As production got under way at VCA, local content was increased so by the time last examples were delivered, virtually the entire airframes and power plants were being locally manufactured. Although the MB326 was intended primarily as a trainer, the aircraft’s ground attack capability’s could not be ignored and with the continued fighting against the Viet Cong, ground attack aircraft were in great demand so simultaneously with the trainer the MB326K single seat COIN aircraft was ordered to complement the A-1 Skyraiders already in service with the VNAF.

VNAF - 1969

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