The Royal Thai Navy announced the reference price for its S26T submarine procurement program at the cost of 13.5 billion Baht or 376.86 million USD.
The deal will consist of one Chinese-made S26T submarine as well as weapon system, support, spare parts, associated equipment, documents, trial activities, fuel, lubricating oil, training, transfer of technology, handover and delivery activities, and related customs formalities. This order will exempt from import tariff.
The final proposal should be submitted by 19 Jan 2017. But the Royal Thai Navy clearly stated that they want to procure the S26T only, so one bidder is expected.
All administration process should be completed by the first quarter of 2017 and the contract is expected to be signed no later than second quarter.
(TAF)
Good job Thailand for establishing a Submarine force eventhough Thailand doesn't really need it. Surely this will motivate other country to procure Submarines.
BalasHapusWith the current situation in the SCS, I hobestly think that Thai needs a submarine force. The question is: how effective will just ONE submarine be? Even worse, it's made by the main antagonist in the SCS conflict. They surely know and have everything there is to know and have to counter this sub effectively.
HapusThey buying 3 Subamarine. Not just one. A piece cost USD376. All three cost about USD1 Billion. Lol the main antagonist. You mean China? Thailand is not an enemy of China. Most country in SEA is friendly toward China. Even Philippine now embrace China. Thailand is not a claimant of SCS so they probably never get involve in SCS dispute.
HapusThailand has no stake in SCS. IMO this is intended to augment the RTN capability in securing their territory. One for a start, i think there is a wisdom in that move.
Hapus"Friendly". Doesn't mean they don't have a problem with China. Phil is now friendly because their president is a maoist. Before that? They weren't friendly to China at all.
HapusThe claimants are all 100% not friendly to China. Why do you think is Vietnam buffing up their military so significantly nowadays?
Whether you like it all not, if you start claiming people's EEZ with crap "historical" basis, you will become the antagonist in the dispute. Even worse when you decide to ignore UN's decision on that matter.
Thai might not be a claimant but they bought the sub AFTER the dispute happened. Clearly they are trying to build some deterrent. And buying an important weapons systems from a country that's a possible threat to them is not smart.
That's why I'm also irritated everytime TNI buys stuff from China. They fuck around in Natuna after promising not to and the quality is crap. The only saving grace is the price. Which is probably why Thai is buying from them. But still not a smart choice.
Chinese Sub that Thailand buy is actually more expensive than Russian Sub that Vietnamese buy. Compare to Kilo Class, Chinese Sub has AIP technology and more stealthy than Kilo class.
HapusThe problem is not how advanced it is. First it's the quality. It's not going to be as reliable as western stuff in general. Indonesia bought C-705 missiles, test fired it, it failed to launch and what did China do? Blame Indonesia instead of checking what went wrong.
HapusSecond is China's position at the SCS. If they one day decide to send their fishermen and coast guardmen to Thai waters, they have all the data and equipment they need to nullify the subs' threat.
Don't be so sure that they won't do that to Thai. They promised Indonesia that they won't lay claim to indonesian waters. What do they do now? They sent fishermen and coast guard ships to the Natuna seas and say that they are in their waters when they're in fact in indonesian waters.
I don't trust the chinese government. Not one bit. Their promises aren't worth shit. They feel superior in the SCS, they'll do whatever they want. Thai buying chinese subs is NOT a smart descision.
Nice info
Hapus