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this post was submitted on 21 May 2025
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Trying to buy F-16s in a region where Western equipment has just been loudly spunked down the shitter by cheaper and superior Chinese alternatives is the weirdest hill for Vietnam's dignity to die on.
The F-16s Vietnam want to buy will be the most advanced version, and not the cold war era ones Ukraine and Argentina got. The rumour is that the warranty has expired on Vietnamese Su-30s, and that Sukhoi want payment upfront to carry out necessary maintenance. The F-16Vs would be an upgrade on the Su-30MKIs in a few ways, namely the AESA radar and AIM-120 long range air to air missiles. India is working to domestically upgrade their Su-30s with these capabilities. India also lost an Su-30MKI and MiG-29K to Pakistan, so it's not like Russian equipment faired any better than the French Rafale. While the Chinese J-10CE is roughly equivalent or better than the latest F-16V and cheaper (so all round a better offer), Vietnam might not want to buy Chinese military equipment, their last war was against China after all. So if the threat is perceived to be China, Chinese equipment does not address it. Given this context, the only other offer that would be competitive with the F-16V offer would be a custom Gripen C offer, with some of the capabilities of the E model. Saab Gripen E, Eurofighter Typhoon and Dassault Rafale are all too expensive for the capabilities they offer as 4.5 gens.