Jet purchase plan shelved by air force

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Jet purchase plan shelved by air force

Commander grumbles about govt budget cuts

Published: 9/05/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

Budget cuts have compelled the air force to shelve its planned purchase of six more Swedish-made Gripen fighters.

As the government decided on Wednesday to slash the defence budget for the next fiscal year from 171 billion to 151 billion baht, the air force had to ditch its plan to order six more Gripen fighter jets worth 15 billion baht, commander Itthaporn Subhawong said.

The air force has already bought six Gripen jets worth 19 billion baht with the planes due for delivery next year.

The air force needs the other six Gripen jets to complete a fleet of 12 that will replace its ageing F-5 fighters scheduled to be decommissioned in 2011.

With only six Gripen jets, the air force was not confident of protecting national security, according to the air force chief, who also warned that the decision would weaken national defence where competitive weaponry is vital.

"This affects the potential of the armed forces because they need modern weaponry. If we must defend the nation with weapons that cannot match [our enemies'] or are outdated, nobody will have respect for us," ACM Itthaporn said.

He said that the six other Gripen jets were necessary for national defence.

"We must explain what is essential and need a review from the government. Weapons result in national security. Without strong defences, neighbours will not have respect for us.

"We, all soldiers, are ready to sacrifice our lives for the nation but in any fight we must have competitive weaponry. The life of every soldier is valuable. If a conflict erupts and we have weapons that do not compare, soldiers will be killed," he said.

The Swedish fighters will be stationed at the air force base in Surat Thani to protect the Gulf of Thailand, the Andaman Sea and all areas in the southern region of the country.

The air force plans to use them as its main fighters instead of the F-16 jets used now.

The Defence Ministry was one of the agencies hit hardest by the budget cuts, implemented because government revenues have fallen short of target and the need to raise money to pay for economic stimulus schemes.

A ministry source said there was a question whether relations between the Democrat Party-led coalition and the armed forces would sour because the armed forces had supported the government but received budgetary reductions in return.

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Writer: WASSANA NANUAM

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Profiler

Discussion 17 : 10/05/2009 at 11:59 PM17
Yes Keith that might be right :)
Keith

Discussion 16 : 10/05/2009 at 01:58 PM16
Profiler: The JAS39 may be multi-role in capability but I don't think that the RTAF have fixed their weapons package yet so in practice it may not. Would that be right?
Peter

Discussion 15 : 10/05/2009 at 01:11 PM15
Why do they need any new Gripen jets? Presumably to use for rainmaking like the 2 Alpha Jets, otherwise they will sit around in hangers unused.
Profiler

Discussion 14 : 10/05/2009 at 11:45 AM14
I get your point in what you are saying Spiceman, I just point out details that people don't care. People here don't seem to have a clue about military jets. But as I served in airforce , you have to learn about the worlds jets, tactics and capabilities... and if you want to have F-16 you need more than 12...Actually F-16 was one of my favo. jets... but mostly I blame american movies to exaggerate the capabilites, such as F-16 have two cannons, that you can lock on a ground target with sidewinder etc etc... It was and still is one of my favo. but its poorly outdated and if you think US gives exactly what the plane needs then you're wrong... They don't provide look first radar, or any proper armament, which ends up you will use iron bombs... So when you make a deal you're def. on the less modern equipped side which can turn the tide of battle to the enemies.

When it comes to the deals I think its better you deal with Europe on the fact it's less probability of a corrupted deal (there still is a chance, that a I admit but still less) I mean look at the US helicopters you have, they needed repair but what did the military do instead? They bought in Mi-17 heavy attack helicopters instead coz they said the price tag was almost the same... In your dreams... Not only that but it totally diffrent purpose too.

Many of the european countries want to ban Thai buying military equipment for them , since in their case Thailand is run by a junta similar to Myanmar. (This is from news reports before you ask)

300 000 men strong with people suffering in each corner of Thailand, I think sth is wrong with that picture... You not currently at war with anyone, and you don't need that much personal, but you certainly need an upgrade and better training.
I think the best for Thailand is to specialize the troops instead...
SPICEMAN

Discussion 13 : 10/05/2009 at 04:51 AM13
PROFILER, has it not been obvious to you yet that the whole world is in the middle of the worst economic recession? Way too many people are becoming unemployed and if nothing is being done to alleviate their hardship, many of them will resort to criminal activities in order to stay alive. Money we don't spend on buying a handful of expensive toys like the Gripen can go along way toward that. I bet Gripen will become like our current F-16s now in the next 20 yrs, never be used in anger since that Franco-Siamese War of 1941.

Now, let we do more with less of what we got. If we have to, we can gradually upgrade our current F-16 A/B to have the latest capabilitis of the C/D model, the pay as you go, with new GE engine and latest software & avionics. As mentioned, F-16's airframe remains virtually the same, a testimony of the soundness of the original design. It is neither the fastest nor highest flying jet in the world, what makes it so deadly is its ability to seamlessly go from one maneuver to the next and so on and on. In close air combat, it is superior to even the F-15 with 1/3 the price. I suggest you read John Boyd's Energy Maneuverability Theory (E-M) to fully understand why one fighter is superior to another. Up to date, no Russian test pilots have ever been allowed to feel the stick of F-16 in flight, which move only 1/8 of an inch as its fly-by-wire only senses stick pressure, instead of moving the whole stick. And what is the AA kill ratio of the Gripen? Zero, right? And what is that of the F-16, more than 80 to zero, right? I rest my case. Kataero@aol.com
Profiler

Discussion 12 : 09/05/2009 at 06:32 PM12
Thai military is also very poorly trained compared to other nations, and of course , I wouldn't say state of the art but close to it isn't sth thai military can actually handle... Tanks and APCs from korean and vietnam war, geez... So I'm not suprised some thais are against it...

And Richard, as I said before about JAS multirole, its made for ground attack... so bummer on that one man...
SPICEMAN

Discussion 11 : 09/05/2009 at 05:26 PM11
#4, you should ask Dalei Lama of Tibet why nations must maintain adequate military forces? And even dogs know not to bite the hands that feed them, OK?

#5, if we need AWACS, just buy only AWACS and save big, OK?

#6, that what the upgrades are for. IAF buys their jets stripped down, then adds its own avionics with huge savings. F-16 airframe is virtually the same from A/B to C/D model. We can replace its P & W with GE engine and easily boost T/W to 1.22. Gripen's T/W is only 0.94. Don't you know that we are "broke" and must learn to do more with less just like IAF?

#7, Mig-29 is a piece of junk and Malaysian AF already crashed a couple of them due to poor serviceability. That's why they switched to F/A-18 C/D, a naval fighter with T/W of 0.89, a turkey as compared to our original F-16 A/B.

#9, Gripen's T/W ratio of only 0.94 is really lackluster. As a result it can't stay with even F-16 A/B in high-G sustained turn. Small size has its drawback (no room for bigger engine). It's designed for Swedish AF (to operate from Swedish Highways), not for RTAF for sure.

Let talk to the Russians to buy SAM systems. It's a lot cheaper to shoot down enemy jets with cheap SAMs! And don't we still have that junk aircraft carrier floating around? The AF general who bought it needs to be shot! By the way, I'm a Thai. Kataero@aol.com
Profiler

Discussion 10 : 09/05/2009 at 05:10 PM10
Even before start bashing , check out F-16.net , there is also a topic which involves JAS capabilities... so before bashing anything that aint american , get your facts straight... Usually comes from people who have no idea how jet works at all...
Profiler

Discussion 9 : 09/05/2009 at 03:11 PM9
Ehm, nice to see americans have no clue what Gripen really is... it's multirole not just fighter, JAS which is its first name stands for Jakt Attack Spaning, which in english means (Roughly translated) Fighter, Ground Attack, and Recon...
Gripen is more than adequate and beats the F16 in maneouvering, even with payload.
Richard

Discussion 8 : 09/05/2009 at 02:46 PM8
You cannot protect an oil rig with a fighter.

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Jet purchase plan shelved by air force