Thai Navy to buy three Chinese submarines

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Re: Thai Navy to buy three Chinese submarines

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STEVE G wrote:What is an interesting fact is that the Thai navy has maintained a submarine division for all the years since 1951 when it's last two submarines were retired!

There have been some on again off again potential submarine purchases with the last being about
2011 when a deal to purchase from Germany fell over. Construction of a submarine facility at the naval base at Sattahip was completed in 2014.
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Re: Thai Navy to buy three Chinese submarines

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Nereus wrote:Prawit confirms submarine purchase

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/securit ... e-purchase

Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon has confirmed the navy will buy submarines from China at 12 billion baht each, starting with the fiscal 2017 budget.
The purchases would be made one at a time, Gen Prawit said.

The selected type of Chinese submarine was a good vessel and came with new technology, Gen Prawit said at Government House on Friday.

He was responding to questions about reports the navy would acquire three Yuan class S26T submarines from China.

The price tag of 12-billion-baht each was not high, given their long service life, when financed through a 10-year tied budget, Gen Prawit said.

In explaining the need for the vessels, he said Thailand had plenty of marine resources within its territorial waters in the Andaman Sea, and all neighbouring countries had submarines including Myanmar,...
Well, if the Thais service the subs as well (badly) as they service other mechanical devices, they will all be moored up and rusting within 5 years. Still, they will be able to point at them and take pictures. :wink:
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Re: Thai Navy to buy three Chinese submarines

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and all neighbouring countries had submarines including Myanmar,...
That's it in a nutshell, Thais gotta keep up with the neighbors or lose face...
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Re: Thai Navy to buy three Chinese submarines

Post by oakdale160 »

I cant help feeling that somewhere on board wil bea little device that will enable the Chinese navy to know exactly where they are.
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Re: Thai Navy to buy three Chinese submarines

Post by RCer »

hhfarang wrote:
and all neighbouring countries had submarines including Myanmar,...
That's it in a nutshell, Thais gotta keep up with the neighbors or lose face...
As opposed to western pride?
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Re: Thai Navy to buy three Chinese submarines

Post by Bristolian »

oakdale160 wrote:I cant help feeling that somewhere on board wil bea little device that will enable the Chinese navy to know exactly where they are.
It will be a buoy attached to a 30 metre piece of string. No one expects them to go any deeper!
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Re: Thai Navy to buy three Chinese submarines

Post by Bluesky »

Bristolian wrote: It will be a buoy attached to a 30 metre piece of string. No one expects them to go any deeper!
Agree! Any deeper and there's a risk the watertight warranty may be voided!
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Re: Thai Navy to buy three Chinese submarines

Post by Nothappyjan »

Apart from being a very flawed decision on technical grounds it is very flawed on any strategic measure.
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Re: Thai Navy to buy three Chinese submarines

Post by Nereus »

Navy secures funds to buy Chinese sub

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/securit ... hinese-sub

The Royal Thai Navy has secured 13.5 billion baht to purchase a Chinese-made submarine.
It is expected the vessel would be ready to enter service in six years time.

Navy spokesman ACM Jumpol Loompikanon said the money has been included in the 2017 Budget Bill approved by the National Legislative Assembly.

The purchase of the Yuan Class S26T, the first of three Chinese-made submarines which the navy intends to acquire at a total cost of 36 billion baht, should be made this year, he said.

If all goes to plan, Thailand will have its first submarine in service since the early 1950s, he said.
Four small Japanese-made submarines purchased in 1938 were decommissioned in 1951.

The Chinese S26T craft has a submerged displacement of 2,600 tonnes and is equipped with an air-independent propulsion system that allows the submarine to stay under water for up to three weeks at a time, according to the navy.

This first submarine will cost considerably more than the other two -- which will be purchased later -- because the 13.5 billion baht will also cover weapon system costs, training courses for the crews, visits by Chinese personnel and various maintenance costs, ACM Jumpol said.

Procurement of the first Chinese submarine will be conducted in a government-to-government deal after the cabinet gives its final approval to the contract.

The navy's intention to purchase new submarines, a proposal it has made under successive governments, has sparked public debate.

Many people think they are unnecessary and would be a waste of money.
Other critics have even questioned whether the Gulf of Thailand is deep enough for submarines to operate in.

The navy has responded to these remarks by claiming it needs to protect the national interest and match the naval defence capabilities of neighbouring countries.

According to regional security sources, Malaysia now has two submarines, while Singapore has four and is about to purchase two more.
Vietnam has six and Indonesia is in the process of replacing two old German-made submarines with three new ones from South Korea.
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Re: Thai Navy to buy three Chinese submarines

Post by Spitfire »

As a RTN sailor you would need to have nerves of steel to serve on a Chinese-made sub run by the navy here that has budget shortfalls everywhere and can't even afford to sail their aircraft carrier around unless it's an emergency or international face gaining event.

Not to mention, I would have thought the Thai navy also probably has very few accurate sea floor maps of around here if the last subs they operated were in the 1950s.
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Re: Thai Navy to buy three Chinese submarines

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There was another article somewhere this morning saying they would be on operational patrol in the Andaman only. I would imagine home port may be Sattahip, but they can scoot along on the surface in the shallow upper gulf I imagine. Pete :cheers:
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Re: Thai Navy to buy three Chinese submarines

Post by centermid7 »

The Gulf of Thailand offers no operational depth for submarines with an average depth of just 80 meters. This was demonstrated during WW II for those boats still on "Eternal Patrol". Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. The Andaman would be better but with all those islands up and down the coast that also means there is a lot of stuff that does not rise to surface level and thus stuff to run into. I wonder how they would even begin to train the crews?

These subs are really just show pieces and since the really big navy brass is mostly stationed on the Gulf side it's going to be harder to have those photo ops that they crave.

This country does does not need submarines!
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Re: Thai Navy to buy three Chinese submarines

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It's all a "you have, we have" fire drill, and in this case the Chinese are getting paid for it. Pete :cheers:
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Re: Thai Navy to buy three Chinese submarines

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would you buy a submarine from a Chinese used submarine salesman? ah sir, this submarine was driven by a little old captain, only on sundays, to go to church.
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Re: Thai Navy to buy three Chinese submarines

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A voice of reason and truth concerning this boondoggle.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opin ... defensible
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