First Vietnam Military Pilots Graduating US Training Course

Two Vietnamese pilots are finishing the Aviation Leadership Program run by the U.S. Air Force, the first from their country to do so.

Senior Lieutenant Dang Duc Toai will be the first to complete it followed by Sub Lieutenant Doan Van Canh.

It is a U.S. Air Force scholarship program that provides undergraduate pilot training to select officers from other nations’ air forces, seeking to build relationships between future leaders of air forces and increase cooperation between countries.

The two Vietnamese pilots are attending the 52-week course at the Columbus Air Force Base in Columbus, Mississippi State, according to the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi.

Defense ties between the former foes are flowering.

Boeing subsidiary Insitu has received an order for six unmanned aerial vehicles from Vietnam worth $9.7 million.

It will also provide components and spare parts and training in their use, and send experts for technical support.

Andrea Thompson, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs, told the Vietnamese media via phone on Monday that the U.S. looks forward to the next step to ensure that Vietnam has the best national defense equipment in the world, which it would supply.

At a meeting on June 1 at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, U.S. Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan and Vietnam's Minister of National Defense Ngo Xuan Lich agreed that the bilateral cooperation in recent years has achieved practical results and is consistent with the comprehensive partnership between the two countries, and contributes to maintaining peace and stability in the region and the world.