Female hero helps Vietnam develop first surface-to-sea missile

Hero of the People's Armed Forces, Lieutenant Colonel Le Thi Hang shared that to master missile technology, one cannot give up, one can only do it again and again until one succeeds.

At the 11th National Emulation Congress held on September 24, typical and advanced collectives and individuals reported on emulation work.

Among more than 300 typical advanced collectives and individuals, there is Hero of the People's Armed Forces, Lieutenant Colonel Le Thi Hang - Director of C4, Viettel Aerospace Institute.

Senior Lieutenant General Vo Minh Luong, Deputy Minister of National Defense , said that in recent years, Lieutenant Colonel Le Thi Hang (born in 1985) has had particularly outstanding achievements in researching and developing weapons and equipment, contributing to the modernization of the Army.

Lieutenant Colonel Le Thi Hang shared about her journey to master core technology, contributing to the development of Vietnam's missile industry, at the 11th Military Emulation Congress.

Within 5 years, Lieutenant Colonel Le Thi Hang received the Fatherland Protection Medal, certificates of merit from the Prime Minister and the Minister of National Defense, the title of Emulation Fighter of the whole army and many other awards.

Notably, in August 2025, Lieutenant Colonel Le Thi Hang entered military history when she became the first female soldier in the renovation period to be awarded the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces by the President.

To master missile technology, one cannot give up.

“To master missile technology, you cannot give up, you can only do it again and again until you succeed”, this is the saying that summarizes the nearly 10-year journey that Lieutenant Colonel Le Thi Hang and her teammates went through to conquer and master core technology, contributing to the development of Vietnam's missile industry.

According to Lieutenant Colonel Le Thi Hang, missile technology is a highly specialized field, whichever country can master will contribute to enhancing the strength and combat readiness and victory of the army. Therefore, it is always kept the highest secret in each country. In particular, the "guide head" - likened to the eyes of the missile, is one of the most difficult and complex components, determining the effectiveness and value of the missile.

The missile's homing head was introduced by Viettel at the exhibition of 80 years of national achievements.

"When assigned to research and develop core technology, my engineering team and I faced many seemingly insurmountable challenges.

Especially, as a woman, for me, the challenge is even greater when I still have to fulfill the role of a mother of 2 young children and the whole family. There were times when all that pressure came at once, making me wonder: Do I have enough strength to continue? But then I told myself that if I step back, who will step forward? If I give up, who will pass this difficulty on to? ", Lieutenant Colonel Hang shared.

It was the sense of responsibility to the army and the Fatherland that urged her and her teammates to persevere to the end.

To overcome this challenge, Lieutenant Colonel Hang shared, the group had to solve two big problems, first is to clarify the operating principle and structure of the "self-seeking head"; next, it had to build a testing process that accurately reflected the missile's operating environment to verify the operation of the "self-seeking head".

"For the first problem, we applied the "reverse engineering" method, simulating combat situations, building hundreds of scenarios and many prototype versions to gradually perfect the lead. For the second problem, we came up with a creative and innovative way. That is, we researched and built a test firing room, the first missile test firing room in Southeast Asia; using canoes and self-guided aircraft to approach the target instead of firing missiles for testing. With this creativity, we shortened the research time and saved hundreds of billions of VND for the State," Lieutenant Colonel Hang recalled.

Vietnamese engineers, marking a historic milestone

Lieutenant Colonel Le Thi Hang and her teammates went through a challenging journey, working nights to exhaustion with the spirit of "as long as there is work and strength, we will continue to work". Some officers and soldiers had nosebleeds, just used tissue to stop the bleeding temporarily and then continued working.

During the long days of testing at sea, the young engineers suffered from seasickness but still tried to complete the task.

During the on-board testing, the technicians were initially concerned about flight safety. However, with perseverance, knowledge and determination, Viettel's team convinced them to join. Many flights required low altitudes, potentially dangerous, but everyone was ready to face them.

In the early stages of research, when there was a lack of equipment, the officers and soldiers still found ways to overcome it. Ms. Hang said that when developing immersion welding technology - a welding technology in the aerospace field, due to the lack of specialized equipment, the research team took advantage of mini gas stoves and household aluminum pots to do it.

In 2020, the product was accepted by the Ministry of National Defense, marking the first success in the research and development of medium-range subsonic anti-ship missiles of the Army. This success affirmed the high-tech mastery capacity of Vietnamese engineers, marking a historical milestone when for the first time, Vietnamese people were autonomous in researching, designing and successfully manufacturing "self-seeking heads" - a complex component that many developed countries have not yet been able to do.

The products have quality equivalent to foreign products, have great political, military and economic significance, contribute to security and successful operations, and enhance the strength and combat readiness of our Army.

Seeker mounted on Red River surface-to-ship missile.

After the initial success, Lieutenant Colonel Le Thi Hang and her teammates also successfully developed "guided" product lines for new types of missiles, with longer range and higher accuracy.

In fact, to develop a missile line, developed countries usually take at least 10 years, but in just 8 years, Vietnamese officers and soldiers have successfully researched 3 lines of self-guided products, height-measuring radar for 3 lines of anti-ship missiles, helping missiles to fly along the sea at very low altitudes, and resist electronic warfare. Those steps lay a solid foundation for the future of Vietnam's missile industry.

Along with that, the officers and soldiers built facilities and research infrastructure as a foundation to develop new, more modern product lines in the future.

"We are very proud that in just a short time we have researched and developed new, modern product lines that contribute to the overall achievements of Viettel Aerospace Institute and have been awarded the title of Hero of the People's Armed Forces by the Party and State.

Today's success is just the beginning. We still have many challenges ahead of us, as developed countries are decades ahead of us," Lieutenant Colonel Le Thi Hang affirmed.

This success has affirmed the ability of Vietnamese engineers to master high technology, marking a historical milestone when for the first time Vietnamese people were independent in researching, designing and successfully manufacturing "self-guided heads", a complex component that many developed countries have not yet been able to do.

Source: https://khoahocdoisong.vn/nu-anh-hung-giup-viet-nam-phat-trien-ten-lua-dat-doi-hai-dau-tien-post2149055916.html