Army in new bid to get its airship flying

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Army in new bid to get its airship flying

Published: 27 Sep 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

The army has agreed to pay 50 million baht more to an American airship producer to make its 350-million-baht airship fly for the first time since its procurement.

An army source said the army signed a contract with Aria International Inc on Sept 20 to make the surveillance airship stay up in the air.

The company was originally hired to provide the airship, which has not flown since its arrival in the country.

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spiceman
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Discussion 28 : 28 Sep 2012 at 08.0928
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Khun LazarisBK #24, I hope Airbus already fixed the A-380's exploding engine, and cracking wing. I heard the Qantas' A-380 had a really close call, and barely had time to make an emergency landing, after exploding fan blades pierced the fuselage and wing.
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loopholes
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Discussion 27 : 27 Sep 2012 at 13.4027
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Finally the air ship could be floated but to stay afloat remains a big question ? How can such procurement being make without assurance of its performance ?? Really doubtful...I guessed ???
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rva
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Discussion 26 : 27 Sep 2012 at 12.2726
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Since all it does is sit in it's hanger and sucking up money, could using this thing for advertising and flying it around events help with some of it's costs? Might not be to far fetched to at least make it work for it's own maintenance costs...

Is that feasible?
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pheakdey
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Discussion 25 : 27 Sep 2012 at 11.4025
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get something that doesn't work and keep charging gas money from the taxpayer!. that simply out smart the public. but still in luck what the general got just the blimp which never fly. it would been if a fleet of submarine got approved which were or will never be on the service, the maintainance fee and petro still charging a large sum of cash each year from the taxpayer. after all it is not a bad idea at all.
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Lazarisbk
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Discussion 24 : 27 Sep 2012 at 11.2324
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pete Discussion 6 :

A380's are already proven airworthy so they only need to have their pilots trained and endorsed to fly these babies.
Being Thai they will probably realise they have problems when they roll one up to a gate and it does not fit. Gates need to be modified to take the different size.
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jepl
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Discussion 23 : 27 Sep 2012 at 10.0323
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spending another 50 million baht of tax payers money in a bad investment. when will the military be held responsible for these decisions?
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Ian
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Discussion 22 : 27 Sep 2012 at 09.5022
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Never mind the logic, just enjoy the humour. The "land of smiles" is becoming the "land of laughs".
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jck
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Discussion 21 : 27 Sep 2012 at 09.5021
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The purchase of this white elephant has been as transparent as a sheet of steel. The government should make a full disclosure of all associated costs including those recovered from the supplier, (if any), due to defective equipment not meeting purchase specifications. Thais need to be continually reminded how much tax revenue wasted by incompetence and corruption in procurement departments. It’s your money folks the government is wasting folks so speak up and complain.
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kena
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Discussion 20 : 27 Sep 2012 at 09.2020
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50 million baht to patch up an oversized balloon?!? Heck, I'll do the job for Bt.49 million, spend a million baht on gluing strips of rubber on the thing, then put the 48 million baht in my Caymen Island bank account, right alongside Thaksin's bank account. I was going to make a joke about ballooning rip-offs, but the punchline is too obvious.
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Ozman_Bkk
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Discussion 19 : 27 Sep 2012 at 08.5919
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Disc #16, these were Military actions because the police, who should have ended them, were unable to do anything. Now the Military are being lambasted because they took action.

How about asking where the police were during this time. Oh, that right. Collecting "fines" from motorists. We all know the speed limit in Bangkok is THB200 !
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Army in new bid to get its airship flying | Bangkok Post: news