The Royal Thai Navy Held a Ceremony to Receive the Coastal Patrol Boats T.997 and T.998

25 September 2023

Royal Thai Navy (RTN) held formal delivery ceremony of new 2 Coastal Patrol Craft T.997-class (T.997 and T.998) from Thailand's shipyard company Marsun Public Company Limited at Laem Thian Pier, Sattahip Port, Sattahip District, Chonburi Province, Thailand on 20 September 2023 (all photos : Royal Thai Navy)

The Royal Thai Navy (RTN: Royal Thai Navy) held a ceremony to receive two T.997 series coastal patrol boats, T.997 and T.998, on September 20, 2023, at Laem Thian Pier Sattahip Port Authority Sattahip Naval Base Chonburi Province.

According to the strategy of the Royal Thai Navy 2015-2024, it specifies the need for a total of 16 coastal patrol boats. The two T.997 series boats have replaced the T.91 coastal patrol boats. The last two are T.91 boats  T.98 and the boat T.99 that was decommissioned on October 1, 2022.

At present, the Coast Guard Squadron (CGS) and the Royal Thai Fleet (RTF) have coastal patrol boats consisting of Coastal Patrol Boats, boat series T.81, 3 boats (boats T.81, T.82 and T.83), coastal patrol boats, boat series T.111, 3 boats (boats T.111, T.112 and T.113 ), 2 sets of boats T.114 (boats T.114 and T.115), coastal patrol boats, boats T.991, 3 boats (boats T.991, T.992 and T.993), coastal patrol boats, boat series 3 T.994 boats (T.994, T.995 and T.996 boats) and the T.997 series of coastal patrol boats (T.997 and T.998 boats), all built in Thailand.

Marsun Public Company Limited, a private Thai shipyard which is the creator of the T.997 series coastal patrol boats, which share the same design with the T.991 series coastal patrol boats and the Patrolling near the shore, boat set T.994, which had been stationed previously by the coastal patrol boat, boat series T.997, there was a keel laying ceremony on 14 November 2019 and boat launching ceremony on June 21, 2021.

However, the original plan was to install a 30mm AK-306 machine gun with a Fire Control System like Antares Mod.9 from Russia, which will be the first warship of the Royal Thai Navy to be equipped with Russian weapon systems. The ship's delivery, originally scheduled for 15 July 2021, was delayed due to Covid-19 and the Russo-Ukrainian war, making it impossible to procure weapons for the two T.997 series ships still at Marsun Shipyard in Samut Prakan Province.

Later, the Royal Thai Navy Procurement and Price Information Center website published two procurement projects by selection method of the Naval Ordnance Department (NORDD), which were announced on December 23, 2018. 2022 namely, the project to purchase 2x30mm machine gun systems with a budget of 197,549,856 baht ($6,019,559.44) and the project to purchase 2 fire control systems with a budget of 69,678,638.23 baht ($2,123, 701.21).

Details in the document specifying the scope of work (TOR: Terms of Reference) indicate that it is a 30mm machine gun system and two fire control systems along with related equipment. It is for the two T.997 series coastal patrol boats to replace the Russian systems as originally planned. According to the 3 coastal patrol boats of the T.991 series and the 3 coastal patrol boats of the T.994 series that entered service earlier, they were equipped with MSI DS30M main guns, size 30x173mm. The document specifies details that It must be a system that can use ammunition already in use in the Navy.

However, in addition to the two .50 caliber (12.7x99mm) M2 heavy machine guns, which conform to the original weapons system specifications, In the video footage of the delivery ceremony, the two T.997 and T.998 boats are each equipped with a 20x128mm Oerlikon GAM-CO1 machine gun as the ship's main gun. The GAM-CO1 20mm machine gun in a manual launcher, which does not require a fire control system, is believed to have been taken from a decommissioned ship that the Naval Ordnance Department kept in its inventory. Probably in order to save budget from project delays in the weapons system section.

(AAG)