U.S. defense companies are mulling supplying military gear, including helicopters and drones, to Vietnam — a sign that the Southeast Asian nation is looking to cut its reliance on arms from Russia.
What Happened: Lockheed Martin LMT, Boeing BA, Raytheon RTX, Textron TXT and IM Systems Group met Vietnamese officials on the sidelines of the country’s first large-scale arms fair last week, Reuters reported citing industry body, US-ASEAN Business Council, which arranged the meetings.
A source with knowledge of the talks said they involved the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of National Defence.
The companies had “promising” discussions about non-lethal equipment, including helicopters for internal security, plus drones, radars and other systems and offered a range of military gear, the report noted.
The preliminary discussion comes as Vietnam seeks new suppliers for its military requirements as the Ukraine war strains Vladimir Putin's Russia’s capabilities. Moscow, for decades, has been Vietnam’s main military partner.
“This marks the beginning of a more open-minded Vietnam People’s Army to U.S. weapons and a willingness to engage deeper with the U.S. in defense as a whole,” Nguyen The Phuong, a military expert and researcher at the University of New South Wales, told the publication.
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