A package could include U.S. F-16 fighter jets and come with special financing terms that could help Hanoi, which is facing tensions with Beijing in the South China Sea, steer away from its reliance on lower-cost Russian-made arms.

Vietnam is also actively in talks with Moscow over a new arms supply deal that could trigger U.S. sanctions, Reuters has reported.

  • zephyreks@lemmy.ca
    32·
    1 year ago

    Vietnam’s asking for a US arms deal so that they can get leverage on their Russian arms deal…

    Vietnam hasn’t exactly had the best recent history with the US, after all. They’ve also shown a really strong capability for asymmetric warfare, so I doubt they’re that concerned about self-defence with advanced technologies either, particularly when those technologies were designed under the assumptions of an offensive war against Russia and/or China.