Lockheed Martin, Boeing Among US Defense Companies In Potential Talks For Military Gear For Vietnam

In a bid to reduce its dependence on Russian arms, some Vietnam government officials and U.S. defense firms are reportedly discussing the supply of military gear.
The talks are preliminary and may not lead to any deals.
Lockheed Martin Corp LMT, Boeing Co BA, Raytheon Technologies Corp RTX, Textron Inc TXT, and IM Systems Group met with the officials on the sidelines of Vietnam’s arms fair.
The companies offered a range of military gear and had “promising” discussions about non-lethal equipment, including helicopters for internal security, drones, radars, and other systems.
“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,” said Nguyen The Phuong, a military expert, and researcher at the University of New South Wales.
Military deals with the U.S. face many potential hurdles, including concerns about the impact on Hanoi’s tense relations with China and whether U.S.-made systems can be integrated with Vietnam’s legacy weapons, Reuters noted, citing some analysts.
A second person familiar with the matter told Reuters that talks on drones and helicopters began before the arms fair and have involved more weapons.
Both sources said Lockheed Martin separately had discussions with Vietnam about a new communication and defense satellite, replacing one of the two from the U.S. company Hanoi already operates.
Photo by alyoshine from Pixabay