By Thai Newsroom Reporters
NAVY CHIEF ADM Chatchai Srivorakhan today (July 19) withdrew the navy’s purchase plan for two Chinese submarines from the House Budget Committee’s agenda.
In the face of social criticism over the navy’s planned procurement of two Yuan-class S26T subs whereas responses to the sustained pandemic situation need sizeable funding, the navy chief called on the Budget Committee in a Zoom cloud meeting to pull the submarine purchase issue out of the panel’s agenda.
The House Budget Committee today scrutinized the fiscal 2022 budgeting for varied procurement projects of the Defence Ministry, otherwise including the navy’s submarine purchase project.
The navy has earlier planned to buy the two Chinese subs, a copycat of Russia’s Kilo-class subs, for a combined price of 22.5 billion baht with some 900 million baht in installment payment due in fiscal 2022, following the already-placed purchase order for one Chinese sub of the same type for some 13.5 billion baht baht with delivery due in 2023.
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Top: Thai navy officer watching S26T diesel-electric submarine model at the 2017 Defence Exhibition. Photo: British “Jane’s Defence Weekly” website and published by Yqqlm.com
First insert: A model of the 2,550 tonne S26T submarine built by China Shipbuilding and Offshore International Company (CSOC). Photo: Asianmilitaryreview.com
