People's Army of Vietnam

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Vietnam People's Army
Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam
Emblem
"Determined to win" military flag
Motto	Quyết thắng ("Determined to win")
Founded	22 December 1944; 79 years ago (1944-12-22)
Current form	July 7, 1976; 47 years ago (1976-07-07) (formal unification of the NVA and the LASV)[1]
Service branches	Ground Force (not a formally separated service branch)  Naval Service  Air Defence - Air Force Service Border Guard Command Coast Guard Command (structurally under de jure administration of the Vietnamese Government)[2] Cyberspace Operations Command HCM Mausoleum Protection Command
Headquarters	Ministry of National Defence, Number 7 Nguyễn Tri Phương road, Điện Biên Ba Đình, Hà Nội
Website	Official website
Leadership
Secretary of the Central Military Commission	General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng
Commander-in-Chief	Acting President Võ Thị Ánh Xuân
Minister of National Defence	General Phan Văn Giang
Chief of the General Staff	Senior Lieutenant General Nguyễn Tân Cương
Director of the General Department of Political Affairs	General Lương Cường
Personnel
Military age	18–25 years old (18–27 for those who attend colleges or universities)
Conscription	2 year 7 month
Active personnel	600,000[3] (ranked 7th)
Reserve personnel	5,000,000[3]
Expenditures
Budget	US$ 7.8 billion (2023)[4]
Percent of GDP	~1.6% (2023; projected)[4]
Industry
Domestic suppliers	Viettel Z111 Factory Z153 Factory[5] Shipbuilding Industry Corporation Hong Ha Shipbuilding Company (Z173 Factory) Z176 Factory Z189 Shipyard Ba Son Corporation Song Thu Shipyard[6] Vietnam Helicopter Corporation[citation needed] Vietnam Aerospace Association (VASA)[7] A32 Factory[8]
Foreign suppliers	Historical:  China  Czechoslovakia  East Germany  North Korea  Romania  Soviet Union Modern:  Australia  Brazil  Bulgaria  Canada  Cuba  Czech Republic  France  Germany  India  Indonesia  Israel  Italy  Japan[9]  South Korea  Netherlands  Poland  Russia  Singapore  Taiwan  Turkey  Ukraine  United Kingdom  United States
Related articles
History	Military history of Vietnam List of engagements World War II (Anti-Japanese Campaign 1944–1945) First Indochina War (Against France, 1946–1954) Second Indochina War (Vietnam War) (Against the United States and South Vietnamese forces, 1954–1975) Cambodian–Vietnamese War (Against the Khmer Rouge, 1977–1989) Sino-Vietnamese War (Against China, 1979) Sino-Vietnamese border conflicts (border clashes with China, 1979–1990) Vietnamese border raids in Thailand (Against the Khmer Rouge insurgents and Thailand, 1979–1989) Thai–Laotian Border War (Against Thailand to defend its ally, Laos, 1987–1988) Clashes in Cambodia (Against the co-premier Norodom Ranariddh and the Khmer Rouge, 1997) Insurgency in Laos (secret war in Laos against Hmong separatists, 1975–2022)[10] War against rebellions 1975–1992 (against FULRO and several insurgent groups) United Nations peacekeeping mission in Central African Republic (2015-now) United Nations Mission in South Sudan (2015-now)
Ranks	Military ranks of Vietnam

The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army (VPA;^[11] Vietnamese: Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, lit. 'Military of and for the people of Vietnam'^[12]), also recognized as the Vietnamese Army (Vietnamese: Quân đội Việt Nam, lit. 'Military of Vietnam') or the People's Army (Vietnamese: Quân đội Nhân dân), is the national military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the armed wing of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). The PAVN is a part of the Vietnam People's Armed Forces and includes: Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, Border Guard and Coast Guard. Vietnam does not have a separate Ground Force or Army service. All ground troops, army corps, military districts and special forces belong to the Ministry of National Defence, directly under the command of the CPV Central Military Commission, the Minister of National Defence, and the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army. The military flag of the PAVN is the National flag of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam defaced with the motto Quyết thắng (Determination to win) added in yellow at the top left (or by the side of the flagpole).

During the French Indochina War (1946–1954), the PAVN was often referred to as the Việt Minh. In the context of the Vietnam War (1955–1975), the army was referred to by its opposition forces as the North Vietnamese Army (NVA; Vietnamese: Quân đội Bắc Việt), serving as the military force of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. This allowed writers, the U.S. military, and the general public, to distinguish northern communists from the southern communists, called Viet Cong (VC), or more formally the National Liberation Front. However, both groups ultimately worked under the same command structure. The Viet Cong had its own military forces called the Liberation Army of South Vietnam (LASV). It was practically considered a branch of the PAVN by the North Vietnamese.^[13] In 1976, following the political reunification of Vietnam, LASV was officially disbanded and merged into the so-called NVA to form the existing incarnation of PAVN, serving as the national military of the unified state of Socialist Republic of Vietnam.^[14]