Thai Panus Delivered Two R600 8x8 Amphibious Armored Vehicles to the Royal Thai Marine Corps

19 Mei 2023

R6008x8 amphibious armored vehicle (photo : Panus Assembly)

The official YouTube channel of Panus Defense Innovation, the security defense innovation development department of Panus Assembly Company Limited (Panus Assembly Co., Ltd.), Thailand, which has just created an account on the 16th May 2023 have posted their first video of testing their R600 8x8 amphibious armored personnel carrier, which number of prototypes 2 vehicles have been certified by the Ministry of Defense Standards Committee, Ministry of Defense.

Swim testing of R800 8x8 (photos : Sompong Nondhasa)

Thai Panus Assembly Company has inspected and delivered two R600 8x8 amphibious armored vehicle prototypes to the Royal Thai Marine Corps (RTMC) of the Royal Thai Navy (RTN) on the May 9th 2023 ago.

According to the company as the winner of the project for the purchase of armored vehicles (8x8) wheeled transport type, 2 vehicles by selection method, amount 99,900,000 baht ($ 3,080,387), price per unit each vehicle 49,950,000 baht ($1,540,240) announced on September 20, 2021.

Amphibious armored personnel carrier R600 8x8 for the Thai Marine Corps, the vehicle weighs in at 18 tonnes, with reduced armor due to the use of a single-layer hull. Equipped with a 600HP Cummins diesel engine in the United States and an Automatic Transmission Gear 6-Speed ​​Allison 4500 in the United States.

Maximum road speed 110km/h while traveling in water up to 13.7km/h in the test, operating distance 800km, crossing obstacles 0.6m height, 40% incline, 60% incline, 2 crew commander/gunner and driver) can carry up to 20 soldiers with the vehicle.

The scope of work (TOR: Terms of Reference) details a range of weapons options that can be mounted from 12.7mm and 7.62mm automatic turrets, such as the Turkish ASELSAN SARP turret, or possibly a machine gun mount. Control by hand (manual) can be fired to reduce project costs.

The Royal Thai Navy also needs to supply 8X8 armored personnel carriers for the Thai Marine Corps. 7 cars limit 448,000,000 baht ($ 13,272,699) with a total demand of 21 cars, all of which will be the supply of cars produced in Thailand, with the Panus Thai R600 expected to be the favorite.

(AAG)