‘No plan to buy military satellites’

[rooster59]

 

‘No plan to buy military satellites’

By ANCHALEE ARIYAKITCHAROEN 
THE SUNDAY NATION

 

General Porpol Maneerin, chairman of the Defence Technology Institute

 

DEFENCE OFFICIAL SAYS DEAL WITH US FIRM WILL BE A JOINT INVESTMENT, WILL COST FAR LESS

 

THE DEFENCE Ministry has no plan to buy “spy satellites” but only aims to co-invest in the reported military satellite project, a senior Defence official has clarified.

 

In an exclusive interview with Fact Hunters of Nation TV, General Porpol Maneerin, chairman of the Defence Technology Institute (DTI), a public organisation under the Defence Ministry, said it did not intend to buy the satellites. He was responding to criticism of the reported Bt91-billion deal with the US-based Theia Group Inc. “The company has just invited us to be master programme partners, or to put it simply, co-investment partners,” Porpol said. 

 

The DTI had signed a letter of acknowledgement (LOA) with the company, he said. That meant it acknowledged the existing satellite project, was aware of the state-of-the-art technology and would study the benefits of the satellite network for Thailand. That is how foreign companies conducted their business: they invited prospective partners, briefed them about the project and drafted the minutes of the meeting, he said, adding that under the LOA, the DTI would jointly study the project, not buy the satellites.

 

The company does not manufacture satellites but is a group of experts who specialise in mineral and natural resource exploration by using aircraft and also specialise in underground water by using aeroplanes. They own many patents, so they are thinking about building a satellite for natural resource exploration. 

 

Asked whether this was a military satellite – the report suggested it was a small, low-orbit satellite – Porpol explained that there were two types of satellites: one was for communication for which Thailand has the Thai Khom communication satellite. The second type is for Earth observation. This kind of satellite takes pictures and analyses them for exploration purposes. In Thailand, the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA), the space agency and space research organisation, have operated it, Porpol explained. 

 

A military satellite has to incorporate both communication and exploration technology in order to get information for analysis, said Porpol. 

 

Currently, Thailand uses satellites for national development as part of the 4.0 policy. The satellite is also used for developing the farm sector. 

 

So the military satellite will not replace Thaicom satellite as some critics said because the new satellite will also take pictures in day and night times and then send those pictures for analysis, Porpol pointed out. 

 

For military uses, the country needs to look along the border with neighbouring countries in the same way that authorities deploy CCTV cameras in cities or use drones equipped with cameras. The Theia satellite network has 112 satellites, which can take and send pictures from any part of the Earth in real time. 

 

“The group of experts plan to create this satellite network for commercial and security purposes and they invited us to join. We have not yet talked about the investment and potential returns. We are studying how it will serve other ministries or organisations in Thailand,” said Porpol. 

 

Porpol dismissed reports that Thailand would need to spend Bt91 billion on the project. 

 

For the Theia satellite network project, many private companies are interested in investment opportunities and they could expect investment returns over 30 years. “Thailand was invited but the group must provide us a guarantee that the project will not lose money,” said Porpol. 

 

“Thai people should not worry, as we will not use the very limited government budget for this investment. In fact total investment each year will not reach Bt90 billion and I think it is worth the investment as we could |harvest information and make use of it,” he added. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30347358

 

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-06-10

[Darcula]

18 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

Currently, Thailand uses satellites for national development as part of the 4.0 policy.

 

Looks like that is about as sparingly as I use cup noodles for breakfast as part of my 7.11 policy.

[ezzra]

21 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

A military satellite has to incorporate both communication and exploration technology in order to get information for analysis, said Porpol. 

In another word, for spying, why paranoid Thailand need such an over the top expensive equipments when Thailand doesn't have enemies per se? probably from the same reasons to justify the burcheases of those submarines i guess....

[YetAnother]

26 minutes ago, rooster59 said:

THE DEFENCE Ministry has no plan to buy “spy satellites” but only aims to co-invest in the reported military satellite project, a senior Defence official has clarified.

another military general with his superficial spin; not buying, but 'co-investing' ; uh huh; we will never know what this will be used for

[Thailand]

Weaponry of different sorts is the ptb' comfort food, and it's only money.

[meechai]

satellites like submarines are great BS  spending for the Junta

to line their pockets.

 

The Junta is making a couple gigantic purchases as they feel their term drawing to an end.

The funds from these BS purchases will keep the elite families rich & in power for generations to come.

If it runs low no problem another coup to once again feed at the public trough

[mtls2005]

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

He was responding to criticism of the reported Bt91-billion deal with the US-based Theia Group Inc. “The company has just invited us to be master programme partners, or to put it simply, co-investment partners,” Porpol said. 

 

This Theia Group looks and sounds a bit dodgy, hard to find out much about them other than they have a suite number for an address in Philadelphia. The scammers get scammed? Can you say bomb detector, or blimp?

 

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1690414/000169041416000001/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml

 

Not sure how involved Erlend Olson is in this "Adventure"?

 

https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=WO2017192727

 

http://archive.fortune.com/2010/03/26/news/companies/terralliance_tech_full.fortune/index.htm

 

Seems like they're peddling a mesh of LEO satellites to deter, detect and defend, perhaps against an unruly populace? Or maybe to track ferners? Previously this was peddled as a sort of diving rod for oil exploration.

[Anak Nakal]

No plan to buy today.

Tomorrow? Maybe.

[NCC1701A]

how many satellites does it take to predict the weather accurately in Thailand?

 

what kind of satellite can find a sunken submarine on the ocean floor?

 

Any transponders space for more Thai game shows and shopping networks on these new Sats? 

[tompelli]

3 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Thailand was invited but the group must provide us a guarantee that the project will not lose money,” 

There's a shop on khao San road sells that kind of guarantee. 

[worgeordie]

He's correct,they are not going to be buying any Satellites 

they are going to pay 91 Billion THB.....91 Billion to buy

a license to use the Satellites !, surely there is a better

way to spend that amount of money,that benefits the

the whole population, like infrastructure ,so everytime

it rains or the wind blows the electricity does not go off,

Hospitals,better to spend on Universal health care,Education

a healthy,educated population will benefit Thailand more

than Satellites,that's really a no brainer.

regards worgeordie

[klauskunkel]

4 hours ago, rooster59 said:

In fact total investment each year will not reach Bt90 billion and I think it is worth the investment as we could harvest information and make use of it,” he added. 

You could use it to issue tickets for speeding, red light violations, illegal lane changes, no helmet on a motorbike, ... and make the money back in less than a year, being the hub of traffic offenses. (Just cut the BiB in on the deal, or there will be trouble)

Edited June 10, 2018 by klauskunkel

[tompelli]

2 minutes ago, klauskunkel said:

You could use it to issue tickets for speeding, red light violations, illegal lane changes, no helmet on a motorbike, ... and make the money back in less than a year, being the hub of traffic offenses.

All good suggestions Klaus, but the militaries priorities are stopping sales of alcohol on Buddhist holidays, cigarette butts on beaches & the number of twerks at a temple fair. Worgeordie also has some good suggestions that definitely won't be taken care of with their 20% proposed increase in military budget.

[KiwiKiwi]

See the expression "has no plan?" and the word 'military"

 

Change the first to "has no formal plan yet". (note the word 'formal').

 

Delete the word 'military'.

 

Then the deliberate  lie is exposed.

 

The professional liars like Sansern, have an armoury of techniques to enable them to craft a lie which (by using key words and phrases) will be taken as the truth by the majority of people, while enabling them to deny the lie later by referencing the specific phrases.

 

In this case, 'we have no plan'. Define plan. What they do have is an intent which is not yet a plan.

 

And 'military' . What they do have is an intent to buy satellites for military purposes. Those satellites may not have been designed and built as 'military' satellites.

 

So, if later challenged, they can say 'well, we didn't have a formal and approved plan at that stage, what we had was the intent, but the paperwork had not caught up at that time.

and:

"The satellite we bought was not sold or bought as a specifically military satellite, (we re-purposed it later).

 

And the lie is suddenly enabled to appear to be truth.

 

The military have spent a lot of money to send Sansern and his playmates to foreign schools and seminars to acquire the skill to make a lie appear to be true. A lot of money. Given the Thai propensity to lie their socks off, they have naturally become adept at the art of deception. The pioneers of this spinning were the USA (to a lesser extent) and the British (the Blair Government were the real experts), I would expect Sansern to have learned mainly from the British.

 

This is how the servants of the people become the masters of the people, it's shameful really but they're all at it.

 

 

 

Edited June 10, 2018 by KiwiKiwi

[Lupatria]

Remembering the junta leaders comment on the topic before one thing comes to mind:

 

"Back paddle faster I hear banjos!"

[55Jay]

Reminds me of the flip flopping on the single gateway. 

 

Subsequent denials are just shrinking from critical questioning.  They intend to do what they said initially. 

 

[Media1]

Dreamers but the words space cadet comes to mind. Stop smoking yaba

[Lupatria]

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

‘No plan to buy military satellites’

                                  No need to buy military satellites:

 

                

[baboon]

4 hours ago, KiwiKiwi said:

See the expression "has no plan?" and the word 'military"

 

Change the first to "has no formal plan yet". (note the word 'formal').

 

Delete the word 'military'.

 

Then the deliberate  lie is exposed.

 

The professional liars like Sansern, have an armoury of techniques to enable them to craft a lie which (by using key words and phrases) will be taken as the truth by the majority of people, while enabling them to deny the lie later by referencing the specific phrases.

 

In this case, 'we have no plan'. Define plan. What they do have is an intent which is not yet a plan.

 

And 'military' . What they do have is an intent to buy satellites for military purposes. Those satellites may not have been designed and built as 'military' satellites.

 

So, if later challenged, they can say 'well, we didn't have a formal and approved plan at that stage, what we had was the intent, but the paperwork had not caught up at that time.

and:

"The satellite we bought was not sold or bought as a specifically military satellite, (we re-purposed it later).

 

And the lie is suddenly enabled to appear to be truth.

 

The military have spent a lot of money to send Sansern and his playmates to foreign schools and seminars to acquire the skill to make a lie appear to be true. A lot of money. Given the Thai propensity to lie their socks off, they have naturally become adept at the art of deception. The pioneers of this spinning were the USA (to a lesser extent) and the British (the Blair Government were the real experts), I would expect Sansern to have learned mainly from the British.

 

This is how the servants of the people become the masters of the people, it's shameful really but they're all at it.

 

 

 

Honestly, I think that in this instance you are overthinking. Why go to the bother of crafting some sophist reply when you can just blatantly lie to people's faces (There will be an election in 2015, 16, 17, 18, 19)? If you get called out on your lies later on, just deny you said any such thing and start flinging sedition charges around like confetti. You give this mob undue credit...

[KiwiKiwi]

18 minutes ago, baboon said:

Honestly, I think that in this instance you are overthinking. Why go to the bother of crafting some sophist reply when you can just blatantly lie to people's faces (There will be an election in 2015, 16, 17, 18, 19)? If you get called out on your lies later on, just deny you said any such thing and start flinging sedition charges around like confetti. You give this mob undue credit...

I might be but I don't think I am. The reason is that this and most things from this government that this government says, are in English. Now 65% of Thais can't even speak Thai well (government figures), so to whom is the English directed? Yes, some of the translations are done by newspapers, but English-language newspapers in Thailand are not known for their fluency in English, so I'm prepared to bet the press releases were delivered in English.

 

No, the patterns do not spring fully formed from the void, they are crafted, for a reason. And that reason (from this government) is unlikely to be sincerity.. I don't make the statements, I just pick them apart and ask where I've seen them before.

 

Might be wrong but I don't think I am.

And yes, the election dates were lies, but there's always a reason stated why they could not take place. More spin, important in this case because foreign governments notice lies about election dates, so the reasons have to appear at least minimally plausible.

 

Also worth remembering, I didn't make this stuff up, whatever training Sansern has had, others have had more, and I've probably had more experience in picking apart the spin doctors.

 

Edited June 10, 2018 by KiwiKiwi

[stephen tracy]

13 hours ago, ezzra said:

In another word, for spying, why paranoid Thailand need such an over the top expensive equipments when Thailand doesn't have enemies per se? probably from the same reasons to justify the burcheases of those submarines i guess....

Perhaps Man-Child and Dumbo thought it was auspicious that there are 112 of them so they can go after people that breach their precious S112. They do, after all, makes decisions based on what a fortune-teller tells says. 

[KiwiKiwi]

2 hours ago, stephen tracy said:

Perhaps Man-Child and Dumbo thought it was auspicious that there are 112 of them so they can go after people that breach their precious S112. They do, after all, makes decisions based on what a fortune-teller tells says. 

 

They want the satellites to surveil the Thai people. It's probably a requirement of the reinstallation of the AM. For them, it may be that democracy in Thailand has been a failed experiment which now needs to be rolled back.

 

However bad you think things are now, it may well get much worse. It is surely possible that the world is about to develop another hermit Kingdom, but with an absentee absolute landlord. It's scarcely believable, but everything points to it. Trade talks overseas, Thailand 4 and the EEC might well be so much smoke and mirrors, along with the high-speed railways devices only to lock in investment and make the . economy robust enough.

 

It's been puzzling for some time why Prayuth says one thing and yet appears to make no preparations at all for what he says he will do. Too many things point to a complete absence of intention to hold an election. Instead, perhaps they're going to persist with the military government and tell the international community it's all down to 'National Security', and when that dog doesn't hunt, to go fish. According to PPT today, which I personally believe and regard highly, the road map is gone. Meetings with political parties will not be held - again, perhaps due to plots, unrest and 'National Security'. Watch for manufactured unrest, probably centred around student protests. Also look for more bogus finds of aged weapons previously stolen or misappropriated from the army for the purpose.

 

I believe it's going to get outrageous, and it may well be the ultimate plan to make sure the amart retain their dominance in Thailand. Audacious, yes but it fits what we can see every day, and it's one of a very few things that do.

Edited June 10, 2018 by KiwiKiwi

[baboon]

2 hours ago, KiwiKiwi said:

 

They want the satellites to surveil the Thai people. It's probably a requirement of the reinstallation of the AM. For them, it may be that democracy in Thailand has been a failed experiment which now needs to be rolled back.

 

However bad you think things are now, it may well get much worse. It is surely possible that the world is about to develop another hermit Kingdom, but with an absentee absolute landlord. It's scarcely believable, but everything points to it. Trade talks overseas, Thailand 4 and the EEC might well be so much smoke and mirrors, along with the high-speed railways devices only to lock in investment and make the . economy robust enough.

 

It's been puzzling for some time why Prayuth says one thing and yet appears to make no preparations at all for what he says he will do. Too many things point to a complete absence of intention to hold an election. Instead, perhaps they're going to persist with the military government and tell the international community it's all down to 'National Security', and when that dog doesn't hunt, to go fish. According to PPT today, which I personally believe and regard highly, the road map is gone. Meetings with political parties will not be held - again, perhaps due to plots, unrest and 'National Security'. Watch for manufactured unrest, probably centred around student protests. Also look for more bogus finds of aged weapons previously stolen or misappropriated from the army for the purpose.

 

I believe it's going to get outrageous, and it may well be the ultimate plan to make sure the amart retain their dominance in Thailand. Audacious, yes but it fits what we can see every day, and it's one of a very few things that do.

Another excellent opinion piece from your good self. History may prove it wrong but to be honest, I remain in the ultra cynical camp just as you do. My good friend Eligius is busy this weekend and cannot contribute to the discussion as he would like, but I will be presumptuous and offer you his agreement too.

 

I was at a party last night. Attending were the likes of the unhappy yet (willfully) clueless likes of Mrs baboon, but also a few lads seething with quiet resentment. I know Prayudth and army? Stupid, big heads. We want them finish now. Get out!

I did not steer the conversation in that direction and those chaps were quite drunk, but I would suggest that when in the yellow and green heartland I live in even the postmen and brewery guys would rather go back to the way things were, the elite have a problem. Worse still for those elites, Thaksin, the Shinawatras and the reds were never mentioned once.

 

However the junta's reign of fear holds solid. But still it is no wonder that they are unsure as to what to do next for fear of opening Pandora's box after all they have done...

 

[Srikcir]

On 6/10/2018 at 5:32 AM, rooster59 said:

“The company has just invited us to be master programme partners, or to put it simply, co-investment partners,”

This is a meaningless nuance with regard to use.

Would Thailand's purchase of Chinese submarines serve any different mission if China and Thailand were to be co-investment partners? Of course not.

I also doubt the sincerity that Thailand would truly be and remain a master program partner for the life of the satellites. That there would be some forced "cash-out" provision that requires Thailand after a set period to buy out Theia Group's share. So in effect Theia Group is a lender.