Posted on 04/24/2017 11:27:22 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Thailand's cabinet has approved the first of three planned submarine purchases from China worth $393 million, a government spokesman said on Monday.
The plan to buy the three Chinese-built submarines worth 36 billion baht ($1.05 billion) was confirmed in July, signalling warming ties with the regional superpower since relations with the United States cooled after a May 2014 military coup.
The first submarine purchase was approved last week.
"The cabinet approved one submarine purchase on April 18," spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd told Reuters, adding that a budget of 13.5 billion baht ($393 million) has been earmarked for the Yuan Class S26T submarine over a six-year period.
The media were not told about the purchase following a cabinet meeting last week because it was a matter of national security, he added.
Public criticism and questions have arisen as to whether Thailand really needs new submarines.
"In the current situation, where the government cannot successfully solve economic problems, buying expensive submarines is completely unnecessary," Watchara Petchthong, a politician with the Democrat Party, told Reuters.
Navy spokesman Admiral Jumpol Loompikanon said the Thai navy owned four Japanese submarines nearly 60 years ago, so new submarines were necessary to protect the country's maritime interests.
(Excerpt) Read more at in.reuters.com ...
Thailand?...........................
regional superpower
400 million? What are they made of, recycled tin cans? Depth to 30 meters?
Special introductory offer? Probably priced to expand China's economic and military influence.
These countries are buying nonnuclear subs for coastal defense. China probably is offering the best price. We don’t make conventional subs but if we did in this day and age they would probably be incapable of submerging and could only carry two torpedoes and would cost $1billion each.
All built like the K-19 model
LOL!
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