Vietnam to Enforce Revised Military and Defense Laws from September 2026

Vietnam's National Assembly has approved amendments to nine laws concerning national defense and military affairs, which will officially take effect on September 1, 2026. The laws amended include the Law on National Defense, the Law on Officers of the Vietnam People's Army, the Law on Professional Soldiers, Defense Workers, and Public Employees, the Law on Military Service, the Law on Vietnam Border Guard, the Law on People's Air Defense, the Law on Mobilization Reserve Forces, the Law on Civil Defense, and the Law on Militia and Self-Defense Forces. The amendments aim to align with the two-tiered local government model and meet the requirements for building a lean, effective, strong, revolutionary, disciplined, elite, and modern army in the new era. A significant change is the addition of the position of Political Commissar for Commune-level Military Command posts, designating them as officers of the Vietnam People's Army. This measure is intended to reinforce the Party's absolute and direct leadership over military and defense tasks at the local level. Commune-level military commands will be established as permanent army units, equivalent to battalion level, with a deputy political commissar. This reorganization is designed to enhance operational capabilities and ensure prompt and accurate responses to national defense and security situations at the grassroots level. Regarding military service, the definition of "draft evasion" has been clarified to include non-compliance with decisions related to military service registration, health pre-screening, health examination, enlistment, and mobilization training. Furthermore, the amended law explicitly prohibits "deception in military service registration and pre-screening," in addition to "deception during military health examinations" which was already prohibited. These additions aim to ensure fairness, transparency, and impartiality in the conscription process and prevent evasion. In the realm of people's air defense, commune-level air defense forces will comprise personnel concurrently serving in commune-level military commands and militia and self-defense forces. These units will be organized into anti-aircraft machine gun platoons, low-altitude target engagement teams, and drone and other aircraft suppression teams. Commanders of commune-level military commands and border guard units in border areas will have the authority to suspend the flight of drones and other aircraft within their jurisdiction, excluding those operated by the Ministry of Public Security outside of military-controlled zones and objectives. Source: Nhan Dan