RTN Received the SENTINEL 30 Machine Gun Mounts for the Two Tor 997-class Patrol Boats

13 Januari 2026

The Naval Ordnance Department (NORDD), Royal Thai Navy, inspected two SENTINEL 30 naval remote stations equipped with Mk44 Bushmaster II chain guns and two OTEOS electro-optical systems as fire control and observation systems from EM&E Group (photos: Royal Thai Navy)

Naval Ordnance Department (NORDD) The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) Ordnance Department has accepted two SENTINEL 30 Naval Remote Controlled Weapon Stations (RCWS), each equipped with Northrop Grumman Mk44 Bushmaster machine guns chambered for 30x173mm ammunition with a 200-round magazine capacity, and two OTEOS Electro Optics Systems (EOS) to be used as Fire Control Systems (FCS). The acceptance was made by Escribano Mechanical and Engineering (EM&E Group) of Spain on January 5, 2026. The announcement was made on January 6, 2026, via their official online social media channels.

The Royal Thai Navy's procurement project for two SENTINEL 30 30mm machine gun systems and two OTEOS fire control systems, along with related equipment, from the Spanish company EM&E Group, was announced on February 4, 2025.

The SENTINEL 30 RCWS naval gun mount and the OTEOS EOS camera fire control system will be installed on two of the Royal Thai Navy's T.997-class coastal patrol vessels, T.997 and T.998, which were delivered on September 20, 2023, and are already in operational deployment.

The two coastal patrol boats, T.997 and T.998, have been commissioned into the Coast Guard Squadron (CGS) of the Royal Thai Fleet (RTF), Royal Thai Navy. They were built by Marsun Public Company Limited, a Thai private shipyard.

Their design shares a base with the T.991 and T.994 coastal patrol boats that were already in service. Originally, the Royal Thai Navy planned to equip the two T.997-class patrol boats with AK-306 machine guns and the Russian Antares Mod.9 fire control system.

However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and the subsequent Russo-Ukraine War from 2022 onwards, the Royal Thai Navy was unable to proceed with the procurement of these Russian weapons systems. Currently, the two T.997-class coastal patrol vessels are equipped with Oerlikon GAM-CO1 20x128mm machine guns as their main weapons. These are manually operated launchers salvaged from decommissioned ships.

The Spanish EM&E Group delivered two SENTINEL 30 machine gun systems and two OTEOS fire control systems to the Royal Thai Navy within approximately 11 months. Throughout 2015, the Royal Thai Navy sent a delegation of high-ranking naval officers to Spain to monitor the progress of the project at the EM&E Group's factory.

The SENTINEL 30 launchers will also be installed on the amphibious landing ship HTMS Chang (the third vessel) and on the two Pattani-class offshore patrol vessels, HTMS Pattani and HTMS Narathiwat, which are built by China.

This is part of a capability upgrade that also includes the CATIZ Combat Management System (CMS) and the DORNA Fire Control System (FCS) from the Spanish company Navantia.

(AAG)