The Royal Thai Army’s buying spree shows no signs of letting up with the disclosure on February 1 it has committed to spending another 70.3 Mn USD (2.2 billion baht) on more military hardware from China, Teeranai Charuvastra reports on Khaosodenglish.
Chinese-made VN-1 infantry fighting vehicle, a model that already equips the Royal Thai Army (Picture source: NORINCO)
According to its purchase orders published on the army’s ordnance department, the Royal Thai Army will acquire three infanty fighting vehicles, 12 mobile artillery units, 10 maintenance vehicles, 12 armored command vehicles and three armored medical vehicles. These vehicles will join the existing fleet of 39 VN-1 IFVs Thailand bought from China in 2017.
The purchase will also include more than 18,000 rounds of artillery shells, rifle grenades and other “high explosive projectiles.” There’s one line item for an unspecified “simulator” costing 151 million baht. In total, the deal will cost about 2.25 billion baht, the document reads. The revelation came just weeks after the army announced it would buy 14 more battle tanks from the People’s Republic, in addition to the current stock of 39 VT4 Chinese-made tanks.
In a visit to Beijing last month, army chief Gen. Apirat Kongsompong said Thailand would work even more closely with the Chinese military throughout 2019.
