Soviet Use of Cam Ranh Air Base
In 1979, the Soviet Union started leasing the base rent-free from Vietnam under a 25-year leasing treaty. As part of this agreement, the Soviet Air Force stationed MiG-23 Flogger fighters, Tupolev Tu-95 long range reconnaissance aircraft, Tupolev Tu-16, Tupolev Tu-22M and occasionally, near the end of the USSR, Tupolev Tu-160 bombers at Cam Ranh Air Base.
The Russian government continued the earlier Soviet arrangement in a 1993 agreement that allowed for the continued use of the base for signal intelligence, primarily on Chinese communications in the South China Sea. By this time, Russian aircraft had been withdrawn, with only support personnel for the listening station remaining.
In 2001, the Russian government informed Vietnam that it would be withdrawing from Cam Ranh Bay completely. Russian personnel left the facility entirely in 2002.
In Tom Clancy's 1986 techno-thriller Red Storm Rising, the base at Cam Ranh Bay is described as being devoid of unusual Soviet air and naval activity, suggesting to NATO, US & Japanese analysts that the imminent Soviet offensive will be confined to Europe, limiting the scope of the war to reduce the possibility of escalation.
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