By Thai Newsroom Reporters
PRIME MINISTER SRETTHA Thavisin today (July 3) shrugged off Navy Chief Adm Adung Pan-iam’s expressed concern over a sustained delay in the navy’s Chinese-built submarine purchase plan, pending a final cabinet approval.
In the presence of reporters, Defence Minister Suthin Khlangsang verbally confirmed to the prime minister that he has not yet forwarded the navy’s contentious, delayed project to buy the Yuan-class S26T submarine to the Pheu Thai-led cabinet for final approval.
Suthin has earlier pushed for the navy to buy a frigate in lieu of the troublesome Chinese-built submarine but commanding admirals insisted they definitely prefer the latter.
However, the prime minister concluded that the 12.4-billion-baht submarine purchase plan, if carried out in compliance with the law and under established procedures, could finally be given the sought-after cabinet nod before the current navy chief retires at the end of upcoming September.
Adm Adung has looked upset and expressed concern over the possibility that the Chinese submarine might not be finally approved by the Pheu Thai-led government until he has retired in the next few months, thus calling on the Pheu Thai-attached prime minister to get it done sooner than anticipated.
Central to the sustained delay in the submarine procurement process is the arguable installation of an alternative Chinese-made CHD620 engine aboard the S26T submarine proposed by China’s Shipbuilding & Offshore International Co and endorsed by the Thai navy in place of the German-made MTU396 engine, originally specified in the purchase contract.
Another bone of contention involves the Chinese shipbuilder’s request to extend the submarine-building schedule for a period of 1,217 days from last May supposedly due to the proposed change of the engine.
Delivery of the S26T submarine, Thailand’s first in six decades, had been earlier scheduled for last year. The Chinese boat is mostly an export-bound copycat of a Russian-built, Kilo-class submarine which has ironically never been deployed by the Chinese navy.
CAPTION:
Top: Yuan-class submarine. Photo via Twitter and published by Eurasiantimes.com
Front Page: A submarine. Photo: Thai Rath
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