Thai cabinet nod for $258.7m Korean fighter
training jets
Purchase brings total defence expenditure to
Bt72.7 billion ($2.14b) since junta took power.
Published : 2017-07-12 14:44
Updated : 2017-07-12 14:49
BANGKOK -- The Cabinet on Tuesday approved a
Bt8.8-billion ($258.7 million) purchase of eight T-50TH Golden Eagle fighter
training aircraft from Korea Aerospace Industries of South Korea, which the
military said would not be too much of a burden on the national budget.
The purchase of the aircraft brings the total value of
military hardware bought under the ruling junta since the coup of 2014 to a
total of Bt 72.7 billion ($2.14 billion)
Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha said the new
pilot trainers will replace the retiring, out-of-date fleet of L-39ZA/ART jets
from Czechoslovakia, which have been in use for more than two decades and have
high maintenance costs.
The new aircraft are being bought to keep up with the
modern technology of the Saab JAS-39C/D Gripen aircraft that the Air Force
currently uses, Prayut said.
“It will only bring more damage if we provide
insufficient training [to pilots],” Prayut said. “Also, I assure you that we
are not bound by any party when it comes to hardware purchase.”
The Thai Air Force also uses an upgraded version of the
F-16 A/B fighting jets from the United States.
Air Force sources said that the South Korean aircraft’s
features are similar to the F-16 fighters but they are less expensive.
The purchase would be done in a government-to-government
deal, according to Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan. “The deal will be
done transparently,” he told reporters after the Cabinet meeting.
Documents and details on the Cabinet’s approval were not
revealed as they were marked confidential, a usual practice when the government
considers procurement of military hardware.
The new procurement constitutes the second batch of
T-50THs. The Air Force signed a Bt3.7-billion contract with KAI to buy four
T-50THs in September 2015, with delivery due in 2018.
Defence Ministry Spokesperson Major General Kongcheep
Tantrawanich said the Cabinet had already approved in principle the purchase of
the jets last October.
However, the Defence Ministry still needed to propose the
purchase to the Cabinet yesterday, as it is regulated that any procurement
worth more than a billion baht needs to receive Cabinet approval, he said.
The Bt-8.8-billion procurement will be part of the Air
Force’s budgets for three fiscal years.
The deal is expected to be signed with KIA on July 29.
These eight jets should be delivered within 34 months
after the deal is penned, Kongcheep said.
Thailand will be the fourth country to be equipped with
T-50TH jets after South Korea, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Since the junta government came to power in 2014, the
military government has approved procurements of 38 VT-4 tanks, 34 VN1 Armour
Personal Carriers, 10 helicopters, 10 offshore patrol vessels, 12 fighter jets
and a submarine.
Big lots of the hardware, such as tanks and a submarine,
were bought from China, while some items were purchased from the US, such as
Black Hawk helicopters and Harpoon Block II Missiles.
By Wasamon Audjarint , Attayuth Butsripoom (The
Nation/ANN)
Source: koreaherald.com
Note VT-4 tanks ordered are 49 units.....
The T-50TH comes at approximately $32.3 million a unit so I guess it will be packed full of features.......
Related post:
KAI T-50 and FA-50: Details
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