RTN will Procure New 30mm Machine Guns for Two T-997 Series Patrol Boats Instead of Russian Weapon Systems

26 Januari 2023

Two 30mm needed for T.997 and T.998 patrol boat (photo : 3rdNAC)

The Royal Thai Navy Central Procurement and Price Information Center (RTN: Royal Thai Navy) website publishes two selective procurement projects of the Naval Ordnance Department (NORDD: Naval Ordnance Department) announced on December 23, 2022.

It is a project to buy two 30mm machine gun systems, with a budget of 197,549,856 baht ($ 6,019,559.44), and a project to purchase two fire control systems, with a budget of 69,678,638.23 baht ($ 2,123,701.21), found published at the end of the month January 2023.

Details in the scope of work document (TOR: Terms of Reference) indicate that it is a 30mm machine gun system and two fire control systems with related equipment. It is for the T.997 series of in-shore patrol boats, both of which are the T.997 boat and the T.998 boat. 

At present, the ship has fallen into the rain, boat series T.997, both ships are still at the Thai Marsun shipyard since the launch ceremony on June 21, 2021, because the installation of the main ship's armament system has not yet been carried out.

Originally, the Thai Navy intended to have the T. 997 boat set equipped with an AK-306 machine gun with an Antares Mod.9 fire control system from Russia. However, due to the situation of Covid-19 and the Russo-Ukrainian War, procurement cannot be carried out.

According to the 3 T. 991 series offshore patrol boats and 3 T. 994 series offshore patrol boats previously deployed with MSI DS30M main guns for 30x173mm machine guns. Detailed that it must be a system that can use ammunition already in use in the Navy.

MSI UK is the current supplier of the SEAHAWK DS family of remote turret systems, of which the DS30M is the standard machine gun on many Royal Thai Navy warships. FORTH Thailand and UCS Thailand are likely to act as distributor systems of foreign companies of TechMer, Israel, and ELSEL, Italy, manufactures detection systems such as cameras and marine radars, including Remote Weapon System turrets to arrive here in 2023.

(AAG)