From the net
US approves sale of Black Hawk helicopters to
Thailand - army chief
Thu Jun 29, 2017 | 6:33am EDT
The United States plans to sell four Black Hawk
helicopters to Thailand after initially suspending their sale following a 2014
military coup, Thailand's army chief said on Thursday.
"The United States government has approved our
purchase order for the four helicopters," army chief General Chalermchai
Sitthisart told reporters, adding that the army already had 12 Black Hawk
helicopters.
"The matter will now be forwarded to Congress for
approval," he said.
The U.S. embassy in Bangkok declined to comment when
asked about the four Black Hawk helicopters but said the United States and
Thailand had a "long-standing security relationship".
Thailand's military, which has a long history of
intervention in politics, ousted a democratically elected government in May
2014 saying it had to step in to end a period of political turmoil.
Several Western countries including the United States
criticised the takeover.
In response, the United States downgraded military and
diplomatic ties with Thailand, its oldest ally in Asia, suspending arms sales
and scaling back military exercises and training.
Thailand, in turn, increasingly looked to other
countries, in particular China, for its defence purchases. In April it approved
a plan to purchase Chinese submarines worth $393 million.
That same month, Thailand's cabinet approved the purchase
of 10 Chinese tanks worth $58 million to replace an old U.S. model.
But relations between the United States and Thailand
appear to have improved under U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump last month spoke with the junta chief, Prime
Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, by telephone and invited him to visit the White
House.
Following the call, Prayuth said ties with the United
States were "closer than ever".
A U.S. embassy spokeswoman, Melissa Sweeney, told Reuters
by email that over the past decade the United States had sold Thailand military
equipment worth more than $960 million, including Black Hawk helicopters,
air-to-air missile systems and multiple naval missile and torpedo systems.
Since the coup, the approximate value of U.S. foreign
military sales to Thailand was $380 million, she said.
"Equipping has always been and remains integral to
that relationship," she said.
Army chief Chalermchai did not say how much the Black
Hawk helicopters would cost but that the military's 2017 to 2019 budget would
cover the cost.
The junta has tentatively set a general election for
2018. (Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Panu Wongcha-um; Editing by Amy
Sawitta Lefevre and Robert Birsel)
Source: reuters.com
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