Defense ministry defends new lot of Chinese Tanks

By Teeranai Charuvastra, Staff Reporter

 

A file photo of VT-4 battle tanks delivered to Thailand in 2018. Photo: Norinco

 

BANGKOK — A transparency gadfly on Friday slammed the military’s latest purchase of 14 Chinese battle tanks as an unnecessary waste of money – a claim disputed by the defense ministry.

 

The 2.3 billion baht used to buy the VT-4 tanks could have been better spent on infrastructure and public health, Srisuwan Janya wrote in an online post. The new tanks will join a battalion of 39 Chinese-made tanks the army bought last year.

 

Full Story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/2019/01/18/defense-ministry-defends-new-lot-of-chinese-tanks/

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2019-01-18

What's the going commission rate 30%, 40%, 50% ? Hey ole fatty great time to order some new watches for the collection.

Edited January 18, 20197 yr by HiSoLowSoNoSo

20 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

A transparency gadfly on Friday slammed the military’s latest purchase of 14 Chinese battle tanks as an unnecessary waste of money – a claim disputed by the defense ministry.

thai tanks are required for their One use; parades

Chinese tanks are a good idea, once China announces Thailand is now it's property they can just carry on as usual.

They bought them to show off to children, next childrens day.

13 minutes ago, YetAnother said:

thai tanks are required for their One use; parades

All Thai tanks have 4 reverse gears and 1 forward gear if they get attacked from behind.

26 minutes ago, YetAnother said:

thai tanks are required for their One use; parades

unless the election results are proven bogus, they may come out then..

here is a training film to go with the state of the art tanks.

 

 

just some more dog and pony show, as there is no one or agency that has the <    s> to go against the ongoing powers, who will stay the on going powers even after election(ha,ha) when ever it happens.

maybe they will park the tanks along side the air craft carrier, blimp, fire trucks, bomb detectors and submarines and watch collection.

we all know some people are going to get large bags stuffed with $$.

once having power unable to give it up.

36 minutes ago, thequietman said:

All Thai tanks have 4 reverse gears and 1 forward gear if they get attacked from behind.

Thai's love it from behind

It's not about the quality,or usefulness ,it's all about the commission.

regards worgeordie

I wonder when they are going to splash out on the tank transporters to move them up to the front lines, the recovery vehicles, the bridging kit to get them across the rivers, they are surely too heavy for most of the bridges, and there are lots of rivers and streams in Thailand! Then there is the cross country capable logistics vehicles to keep them supplied with fuel and ammunition...

 

Or maybe they will just keep them 30 minutes from Bangkok, so handy for parades, and frightening the civies!

14 hours ago, YetAnother said:

thai tanks are required for their One use; parades

I think you miss the point, tanks are essential for the military to suppress opposition, crowds and protest and they are more than handy for taking over democratically elected govt's. That's the only time they are paraded.

Waste of money unless they use them with the UN.

 

But, when China does decide to invade, they don't need to bring theirs all that way. 

36 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

I think you miss the point, tanks are essential for the military to suppress opposition, crowds and protest and they are more than handy for taking over democratically elected govt's. That's the only time they are paraded.

You should watch some more TV's tanks have actually proven to be pretty useless against civilians mainly because their drivers refuse to drive over people (it happens but rarely). There is a nice documentary about tanks in netflix and the professionals have exactly the opposite opinion you have. 

 

However I do agree that its a waste of money and should not be bought.

14 hours ago, YetAnother said:

thai tanks are required for their One use; parades

ONE use !

What do you mean?

ONE use !

What about tank use for staging coups and calming street riots?

Please consider altering ONE for TWO.

31 minutes ago, neeray said:

ONE use !

What do you mean?

ONE use !

What about tank use for staging coups and calming street riots?

Please consider altering ONE for TWO.

Like many (perhaps most) things in Thailand, tanks are only of real use for show. Like the submarines (*laugh*), their main purpose is to 'make other countries be in awe of Thailand'. This utterance by Chanocha clearly displays his reality disconnect. I seriously doubt any ASEAN countries are in awe of Thailand, and most seem to regard Thailand as something of a joke (that is, when they think about Thailand at all). When Gen Chavalit (iirc) gets his backside kicked and his hat handed to him by a ragtag bunch of Laos farmers (circa 1970), then something is falling down the cracks, and it looks a lot like Thai street cred

 

 

.

 

 

 

Edited January 19, 20197 yr by HalfLight

One wonders how many of the above have ever served in the military and specifically on tanks. This is hardly a huge buy of vehicles and gives the Thais the equivalent of ONE British armoured regiment when the initial buy and this one are complete. Other than 30 Ukrainian tanks the rest of the fleet is obsolete Vietnam era equipment. Why should soldier have their lives potentially put at risk because Thaigeezers think it is wrong?

 

These vehicle are not ideal for urban situations. Recent coups have seen the 'light tanks' (CVR(T) deployed as they only weigh about 7 tons and don't chew up roads. Stingray  tanks are also supposedly still around  but again they are 'light tanks'.

 

For comparison's sake the Singaporeans have 190 main battle (ie BIG) tanks, the Malaysians 48, the Cambodians 350, Laos unknown and Myanmar over 200. It's a given that the Laotian and Cambodian tanks will be in rag order.

 

These tanks are pretty state of the art- at USD5 million a pop they are not that bad a deal.

59 minutes ago, robblok said:

You should watch some more TV's tanks have actually proven to be pretty useless against civilians mainly because their drivers refuse to drive over people (it happens but rarely). There is a nice documentary about tanks in netflix and the professionals have exactly the opposite opinion you have. 

 

However I do agree that its a waste of money and should not be bought.

Amazing really, Rob seems to be suggesting that someone should improve his knowledge by watching more TV.

 

Outstanding.

 

Not useful, but it is a novel approach to becoming educated. Perhaps some of the British Universities should heed his advice - improve your education by watching Basil Brush perhaps?

 

.

 

 

 

11 minutes ago, Psimbo said:

One wonders how many of the above have ever served in the military and specifically on tanks. This is hardly a huge buy of vehicles and gives the Thais the equivalent of ONE British armoured regiment when the initial buy and this one are complete. Other than 30 Ukrainian tanks the rest of the fleet is obsolete Vietnam era equipment. Why should soldier have their lives potentially put at risk because Thaigeezers think it is wrong?

 

These vehicle are not ideal for urban situations. Recent coups have seen the 'light tanks' (CVR(T) deployed as they only weigh about 7 tons and don't chew up roads. Stingray  tanks are also supposedly still around  but again they are 'light tanks'.

 

For comparison's sake the Singaporeans have 190 main battle (ie BIG) tanks, the Malaysians 48, the Cambodians 350, Laos unknown and Myanmar over 200. It's a given that the Laotian and Cambodian tanks will be in rag order.

 

These tanks are pretty state of the art- at USD5 million a pop they are not that bad a deal.

I agree, it's important for Thailand's survival to be able to defend itself against a plethora of existing external threats. Those who say that the Thai army is only for keeping the Thai population in order clearly don't know anything at all about the very real external threats that the brave Thai soldiers face every day.

 

They need more tanks and submarines to keep us all safe, not fewer.

 

 

 

 

1 minute ago, HalfLight said:

Amazing really, Rob seems to be suggesting that someone should improve his knowledge by watching more TV.

 

Outstanding.

 

Not useful, but it is a novel approach to becoming educated. Perhaps some of the British Universities should heed his advice - improve your education by watching Basil Brush perhaps?

 

Yes people can learn something from documentaries. That was what i mentioned that he should watch a documentary about tanks. I guess reading is not your strong suit.

 

Some people actually watch a lot of documentaries, i know i do.

 

 

1 minute ago, robblok said:

Yes people can learn something from documentaries. That was what i mentioned that he should watch a documentary about tanks. I guess reading is not your strong suit.

 

Some people actually watch a lot of documentaries, i know i do.

 

 

 

I'm sure you do, and I'm sure you learn a lot from them that you didn't know beforehand.

 

Excellent, keep up the good work. Leicester isn't it? Excellent.

Just now, HalfLight said:

 

I'm sure you do, and I'm sure you learn a lot from them that you didn't know beforehand.

 

Excellent, keep up the good work. Leicester isn't it? Excellent.

Of course you learn from documentaries, if I had not seen it would have thought tanks were good for crowd control. This documentary actually had experts explaining why they are bad at crowd control and gave examples in history (way back and current) why this is true. 

 

Not sure what you mean with Leicester I am a Dutch guy.

 

So you accept that your attempt at making fun of me for suggesting people to watch documentaries on tv was totally wrong ? 

 

 

1 hour ago, robblok said:

You should watch some more TV's tanks have actually proven to be pretty useless against civilians mainly because their drivers refuse to drive over people (it happens but rarely). There is a nice documentary about tanks in netflix and the professionals have exactly the opposite opinion you have. 

 

However I do agree that its a waste of money and should not be bought.

And I imagine these experts have exactly the opposite opinion of the people who bought the tanks, as well. 

 

 

2 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

And I imagine these experts have exactly the opposite opinion of the people who bought the tanks, as well. 

 

 

Depends what field the experts are from, tank experts would indeed question the purchase.

Experts like Thai politicians and junta members would say its a great buy given the opportunities for corruption. Just different experts on different fields, one thinking about usability the other group thinking if its a good way to skim money.

Just now, robblok said:

Depends what field the experts are from, tank experts would indeed question the purchase.

Experts like Thai politicians and junta members would say its a great buy given the opportunities for corruption. Just different experts on different fields, one thinking about usability the other group thinking if its a good way to skim money.

Skim money AND intimidate any protesters. Win win. 

 

 

5 minutes ago, rkidlad said:

Skim money AND intimidate any protesters. Win win. 

 

 

Thanks are useless for really confronting protesters as i said before, just watch the documentary and let history prove you wrong about the intimidating protesters part. It only works if protesters are not determined otherwise it wont work. This was clearly demonstrated based on history in the documentary. 

 

I prefer to believe the experts and evidence in history. Sorry just can't agree with you here. 

Just now, robblok said:

Thanks are useless for really confronting protesters as i said before, just watch the documentary and let history prove you wrong about the intimidating protesters part. It only works if protesters are not determined otherwise it wont work. This was clearly demonstrated based on history in the documentary. 

 

I prefer to believe the experts and evidence in history. Sorry just can't agree with you here. 

I’m sure tanks are useless against protestors. I didn’t disagree with that. My point was that the people who bought these tanks are more than likely not ‘tank experts’. 

 

Have a read about the bomb detectors that were bought. It’s a useful insight into high-level incompetence.

Just now, rkidlad said:

I’m sure tanks are useless against protestors. I didn’t disagree with that. My point was that the people who bought these tanks are more than likely not ‘tank experts’. 

 

Have a read about the bomb detectors that were bought. It’s a useful insight into high-level incompetence.

They are experts in corruption and buy stuff based on what yields the best options for corruption.

 

They are certainly not tank experts.. and yes I know about the bomb detector.