Regiment 954, part of division 372, is a unique unit in the Vietnam Army, with a state-of-the-art squadron of anti-submarine helicopters, ready to scan the country’s waters any time of the year in all weather conditions.

It is considered the most modern unit in Southeast Asia.

A training day with Ka-28

At 6:00am on the regiment’s air base, two Ka-28 flights, namely 525 and 520, were ordered to take off and head towards the territorial waters by officials at headquarters.

The two helicopters were assigned the most difficult flight maneuver of hovering at a height of 25 meters for an extended period above the sea surface to drop a sonar device called VGS, which is used to detect submarines, determine the coordinates of a submarine, and then transfer data to the command center to attack targets.

It was a day of dull and misty weather, and it was difficult to determine the line between horizon and seawater.

At 6:30, the two Ka-28s arrived at the designated coordinates, 60km off the coast. The 525 chopper hovered at 100m to detect submarines, and the 520, equipped with missiles, circled 300m above.

The 525 descended to 25m above the water and hovered to drop the VGS into the sea. The wind stirred by the rotors created countless concentric circles of waves on the sea surface.

After detecting a target, saving its coordinate, and reporting to the command center, the 525 moved away just two minutes before the other chopper, 520, approached the target to fire a missile.

The two pilots selected for the maneuver are senior lieutenants Chu Van Duong, 30, and Nguyen Manh Viet, 32. They are aided by two lieutenant colonels, Luu Duc Bot and Tran Van Thang, who are in charge of navigation.

This was one of the regular maneuvers of the anti-submarines squadron, including night training sessions, to defend the territorial waters of Vietnam.

“Maritime flights for combat require steady, calm pilots who can accurately handle complicated situations, including technical risks,” said Colonel Nguyen Viet Hung – head of regiment 954. “While hovering, a chopper may have an engine failure, causing it to crash into the sea, if the pilot is inexperienced.”

Members of the Ka-28 crew discuss after a maneuver (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

The Ka-28

The Ka-28 is the main force of Vietnam’s Navy for anti-submarine tasks. The helicopter is fitted with a coaxial main rotor with folding blades. The landing gear provides for safe take-off and landing on rocking ship decks.

The co-axial rotor removes the need for a tail rotor, thus reducing the main rotor’s diameter to facilitate maneuvering near obstacles and making it possible to assure exceptional accuracy while hovering in heavy smoke and dusty conditions.

Therefore, the Ka-28 features a high power-to-weight ratio, small dimensions, maneuverability, simplicity of control, and safety of flight operations from ship decks in tough sea conditions and turbulent winds.

The Ka-28 is equipped with devices able to detect submarines at any depth. It also has equipment to jam signals, as well as anti-jamming devices, which prevents a submarine from detecting it.

A Ka-28 can also carry torpedoes, bombs and mines.

Anti-submarine pilots of Vietnam

Most pilots of the anti-submarine squadron of the Vietnamese navy are forerunners of the Ka-28 unit previously stationed in the northern city of Hai Phong.

“Training a pilot for a Ka-28 requires more time than other kinds of choppers,” said lieutenant colonel Hoang Manh Hai – political commissar of regiment 954. “To be accepted for training on the Ka-28, an entrant must have at least 300 hours of flying time with other aircraft.”

“It takes a Ka-28 pilot from two to three years of training to be able to detect submarines,” he added.

“The difficulty is that, after localizing a submarine, a Ka-28 pilot must be able to lower the height to within a radius of 5-10 kilometers from the target to accurately identify its coordinates to open fire,” said senior lieutenant Chu Van Duong.