Tanks and armored vehicles join National Day parade rehearsal

At the August Revolution Square – where 80 years ago a large rally marked the beginning of the general uprising to seize power nationwide – an elderly citizen in a wheelchair watched the parade.

He receives a handshake from a soldier of the next generation.

Photos by VnExpress/Hieu Luong

The area around Quan Ngua Stadium is the final assembly point for many parade units, with a sea of people stretching from Kim Ma to Lieu Giai, filling the area around the overpass.

The soldiers relax after the long parade, smiling with the observers.

Head of the Airborne Special Forces Unit.

Female Peacekeeping Officers Unit.

The Female Commando Unit.

At the intersection of Lieu Giai - Dao Tan, thousands of people arrived early, crowding under the overpass and around the Lotte building to wait for the parade.

Many brought food and chairs for convenience while watching the units pass by. High vantage points, from the waiting areas to the stairs of the buildings, were all utilized.

Quyet, 22 years old, arrived at the location with his girlfriend from early evening but could not make it into the inner areas, so they stood about 100 meters away to observe the parade units.

Every time a parade unit passed, Quyet and others drummed and cheered enthusiastically.

The Truong Son coastal and ground attack missile system, developed by Vietnam, uses the Song Hong missile with a range of approximately 80 km.

The missile flies low and follows the wave crest in its final phase to minimize enemy defense countermeasures.

Each Truong Son system consists of a command vehicle capable of controlling 8 launchers with a maximum of 32 missiles ready for combat, a fire control radar, and transport and reloading vehicles.

The Truong Son system's radar has a scanning range of about 200 km.

The 4K44 Redut-M coastal defense missile system uses long-range anti-ship cruise missiles P-55, which carry a warhead weighing up to one ton, with a maximum range of 300-450 km, depending on the variant.

Behind it is the launcher of the K-300P Bastion-P coastal defense missile system, developed by Russia, mounted on a wheeled chassis capable of reaching a maximum speed of 70 km/h.

Russia's Bastion-P system uses the supersonic P-800 Oniks missile, with a range of 600 or 800 km.

The export version is equipped with the Yakhont missile, which has a maximum range of 120-300 km, depending on the flight altitude.

The Oniks missile carries a 300 kg warhead, while the Yakhont variant is equipped with a 200 kg warhead.

The R-17E tactical ballistic missile is the export version of the R-17 Elbrus, designated by NATO as the Scud-B.

The missile was developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s. It has a maximum range of 300 km and carries a warhead weighing approximately one ton.

The launcher can reach a maximum speed of 45 km/h and has an operational range of 450 km.

The 2S1 Gvozdika system, also known as the SAU-122, is equipped with a 122mm gun and was adopted by the Soviet Union in 1972.

This artillery system is still in service in over 30 countries today.

The XCB-01 infantry fighting vehicle, developed and manufactured by Vietnam's General Department of Defense Industry, weighs 15 tons, measures nearly 7 meters in length, over 3.2 meters in width, and more than 2 meters in height.

It has a crew of three: the vehicle commander, gunner, and driver, and can carry 8 fully equipped soldiers. The vehicle's cabin is air-conditioned, and it features firing ports along the vehicle's body, allowing soldiers to fire from within.

It is equipped with a 73mm main gun with 40 rounds and a semi-automatic loading system, a 7.62mm PTK co-axial machine gun, and a 12.7mm anti-aircraft gun mounted on the turret. It also features a B72 anti-tank guided missile system.