15 minutes ago, Bagwain said:

You need to do some research especially thinking Putin percieved weakness in Ukraine. That is not the reason!

 

Putin perceives the west and Europe as weak. He invaded the Ukrain to recover land he considers to be the soul of Russia. He is a 'Christian' meglomaniac hell bent on expanding his power base and his christian empire. He is the worst kind of tyrant because he believes he is on a god given crusade and can't be reasoned with. He saw a base of his christianity under Jewish control and that is what he is fighting.

2 hours ago, bumpity said:

BS. Who is a threat to lol. Thailand? Just more toys for rich militaristic PM. What about feeding hungry people? 

Hungry people are hungry because of some evil they did in a previous life, so they deserve it and none can change that lol!

3 hours ago, Joules said:

For Phuck's sakes!!  Who is the enemy?   Neither Burma nor Cambodia has anything with which to fight.  Vietnam and China would clean up Thailand in a half a day.  So where is the threat that needs defense?

 

Or is this about kickbacks to the Thai Military Bank accounts in the Cayman Islands?  Just asking.

Vietnam and China would have to have victory in half a day because Thailand would be all shut at 12 oclock sharp for lunch.

9 hours ago, MadMac said:

Nothing wrong with planes, last time they did it wrong and purchased an aircraft carrier without. Kinda learning curve ????

It's a steep curve, allegedly the 2 new submarines don't come with engines so the new aircraft probably won't have wings ????????

Hands up everyone who knew the The Battle at Border Post 9631 in 2001:  https://burmanewsandarticles.blogspot.com/2007/12/burma-air-force-jet-fighters.html 

I am suprised that Thailand doesnt have nuclear weapons ,what with so many countrys wanting to invade,mind you if there was an invasion perhaps walking street could open up again.

Great to see the Thai government really have their priorities in the right order, bloody unbelievable!! Why does Thailand need fighter jets & submarines?? 

I get the feeling Thailand was asked/recommended  to purchase these planes by a 3rd party, one that might consider attacking another country in the near future but would like to study the capabilities of the F35's just in case the US offer air support to that country being attacked

First of all , the Autorities should give poor people a life !.

1 hour ago, paul1804 said:

Great to see the Thai government really have their priorities in the right order, bloody unbelievable!! Why does Thailand need fighter jets & submarines?? 

“Money makes the world go around
The world go around
The world go around
Money makes the world go around
It makes the world go 'round.

 

A mark, a yen, a buck or a pound
A buck or a yen
A buck or a pound.
Is all that makes the world go around
That clinking, clanking sound

Can make the world go 'round

Money money money money
Money money money money
Money money money”

 

Money Money

 

John Kander/Frank Ebb

Having lived in Udon Thani for many years, all I ever saw the Thai F-16's do is make a lot of racket doing military take offs from the airport and burn a bunch of fuel flying in circles.

12 minutes ago, kwonitoy said:

Having lived in Udon Thani for many years, all I ever saw the Thai F-16's do is make a lot of racket doing military take offs from the airport and burn a bunch of fuel flying in circles.

Called touch & goes, and very important training, since most incidents happen during take off or landing.  Aside from a mechanical once in flight.  So practicing is important.

 

RTAF Wing 23 uses the Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet, not F-16s, unless playing with Korat.

If the Yanks or Singapore is on base, you may see some F-16s

 

 

Thales Starstreak will take them down ..easy  There is no info on net but even the F35 is extinct ...

13 hours ago, Snig27 said:

Precisely. These are just being acquired for the a) vanity of it all, and b) for the inevitable massive financial spinoff for a select few Thais. 

Given the gutlessness of the Thai position on Ukraine, any invader would likely consider that Thailand would be a pushover. Its only military experience since WW2 has been a couple of skirmishes on the border; an embarrassing few years in Vietnam where, after a couple of failed ventures out, they really only ran a black market operation and stole off the USA at an industrial level; and attacking their own population. Plus, these would be dreadfully maintained as are current Thai flying machines, hence the multiple military air crashes each year and the % of Thai military aircraft that are unserviceable at any given time. 

The US is also not going to release these to such an unreliable ally anyway, so it's all academic. A fantasy by people who should have been retired years ago.. 

It's military experience in WW2 was a quick surrender 

Defence against who exactly.? Maybe invasion of dirty farangs!

". . . guided by the beauty of our weapons . . ."

--- Leonard Cohen

 

 

Buy the Drones 

15 hours ago, Live Long and Prosper said:

They have the wonderful Grippen already, why not consolidate. Duh, that would be to simple

Doubt Sweden will sell any more Gripen to Thailand since the coup and closer ties to China, also the totally i*iotic stance in the Russian invasion of Ukraine would for sure weigh in.

14 hours ago, Jonathan Swift said:

You don’t suppose it has anything to do with deterrence created by being well armed with US F-16s do you? Nahhhh, too obvious. Your armchair insight into military strategy is staggering.

Your bar stool BS is also impressive... ????

 

F-16 deterrence hahahah again against who? For what?

 

Now folks like.........

Libya Oil...Iraq Oil...Afghanistan Oil/Pipelines.....Thailand? Nada no oil & no strategic value...No value as allies nada

 

 

Most posts here answered bar girls & cheap beer but anyone can have that without a fight

What are you claiming China?  Pffft they already have a good portion of Thailand in their pocket why fight over what is already theirs? So what country do you see invading Thailand & Thailand needing F35's submarines etc etc?

 

Truth is all these generals need are receipts to pad at the citizens of Thailands expense

 

Anyway.........back to your beer & chatting with your X-CIA  MI6 buddies or whoever you are this week 555

 

21 hours ago, MadMac said:

Nothing wrong with planes, last time they did it wrong and purchased an aircraft carrier without. Kinda learning curve ????

ànd submarines without engine! ????

21 hours ago, Bagwain said:

New planes are mostly fly by computer!

Maybe they will stay in the air a bit longer! ????

Dunno about that, have you visited many Thai websites?

17 hours ago, sqwakvfr said:

A Win Win solution.  Sine the US is blocking Poland from giving MiG-29's to Ukraine then how about the Thai Air Force taking them off Poland's hands?  The F-35's have a steep learning curve in terms of actually flying and of course the maintenance.  An F-35 pilot with the assistance of modern technology actually doing the job of two people(pilot and weapons officer). The F-35 pilot helmet alone is over $200,000 because so much information can be displayed on the visor.  Also, the actual part of maintaining a stealth aircraft requires specialized training, parts and even cleaning materials(you can't just use soap and water).   The Thai Air Force has never had to operate and maintain such an advance aircraft that is very demanding on the pilots and maintenance crew.

 

If the MiG-29's are not available then a squadron of surplus F-16's would be fit the bill.  Lot of F-16's are flying and many are parked in boneyards.  

 

Why is there a photo of an F-14 on the front page?  Even Maverick is supposedly flying an F-18 in the Top Gun sequel.  The F-14 Tomcat is long gone and was the premier fighter for US Navy in the 1980's and early 1990's.  Even the Iranian Air Force had F-14's.  

They don't care about any of that, it's about how much cash they can trouser from the deal.

 

The bigger the number, the easier to obfuscate.

 

20 hours ago, connda said:

The problem from what I can tell is their decision to purchase the US F-35 which is the most expensive fighter jet on the planet. 
There are other choices that are significantly less expense and still can meet the defensive needs of the country. 

Tiger Moth

5 hours ago, DUNROAMIN said:

Defence against who exactly.? Maybe invasion of dirty farangs!

Naw, the farangs are kept on the defensive and pinned-down by 90 day address reporting obstacles. 

 

Thailand needs more air, sea, and ground military power to continue its long history of neutrality....to stay non-involved. That is, hear, see or especially speak no evil about other governments/countries regardless of aggression,  human right abuses, etc. 

9 hours ago, Mike k said:

It's military experience in WW2 was a quick surrender 

Not forgetting allowing atrocities and war crimes to be committed on their land (part of the Japanese Empire at the time) and being complicit in those atrocities and war crimes. 

I wonder how the Thai people feel about this??? This is money that should be spent on education & infrastructure to improve the life of the average Thai citizen instead of some crazy ego trip that is completely unnecessary! 

6 minutes ago, paul1804 said:

If the Russian people living in the Ukraine aren't happy with the Ukrainian elected government and its policies they should move back to Russia. That doesnt give the Ukraine a green light to bomb civilians but those civilians are supporting & collaborating with the rebels so what is the answer there?

Putin Anexis Crimea and now considers it and Donbass as his territory yet Ukraine is a sovereign nation. The Rebels fighting against Ukraine in those regions are Russian backed so Russia is knowingly & purposely fueling that fire from day 1, why because Putin wants the territory for many reasons! Understandably he wants a southern sea port which he had so why not just pay the Ukraine for using it and leave all alone. What a mess and the west has a big finger in this dirty pie I feel. 

I'm not there, so I don't know the facts, don't trust MSM.  More importantly ...

 

... I JUST DON'T CARE

Off topic posts and the off topic replies have been removed.

 

Some posts with trolling images have been removed.

 

A post containing a link to the Bangkok Post has been removed.

Playing army, or, air force, in this case, is an expensive hobby.

On 3/10/2022 at 12:46 PM, novacova said:

A lot of ignorant replies here. National security is an imperative for all nations. Just take a look at history, it’s the future and it will happen again. I understand there are many pansies that view the world as they want it to be, rather than how it is, unfortunately. We live in a brutal world, though relatively peaceful during the past few decades. If you want to know how brutal things will be at some point in the future, then read up on some historical events of the past. Then you’ll understand how important it is to have as much national security as possible. 

Really? Thailand is talking about 4 F35s. From 22 years experience in a real air force, the RAF, of those 4, 1 will always be in the hangar for a service, 1 will be the hangar as the hangar queen, awaiting spares and being robbed to keep the others available to fly. That leaves 2. Every senior officer will want to fly one whether they are capable or not. 

 

Each flying hour will cost around 1,000,000 baht.

 

They will need fully trained pilots who will have to be trained offshore and they will need at least 200 hours split between a simulator and a real aircraft and to get them to full mission status will take at least a year. The ground crew will also need specialist training and that will also take about a year.

 

Then you come to logistics and the current inventory of the RTAF will show that no spare parts form the existing inventory will fit an F35, so a new set of spares will be needed and can only be bought offshore, and that won't be cheap.

 

To be effective they will need a squadron of around 12 aircraft and possibly up to 4 more as reserve aircraft. AFAIK the F35 has never been tested in conflict or a war situation.

 

The first combat will be with whatever aircraft are available, probably 8 aircraft. The second sortie will consist of the survivors from the the first mission plus what can be fixed or bodged into flying. The third sortie will consist of the survivors, the forth of whatever is left and there probably not be a fifth mission.

 

This assumes that they are fighting a well armed and well trained enemy and there are a few of them in Asean. Against Cambodia or Laos they will win, against Indonesia or Malaysia they might win, against Singapore or China they will lose. Against Myanmar who have a well trained military they may win or lose.

 

This is only 1 squadron with 12 aircraft. Each aircraft will cost at least $70 million dollars which is about $850,000,000 without spares, weapons and training for the lot.

 

Do you think Thailand can afford that considering the state of Thailand financially? And for what? Thailand HAS no immediate enemies who would want to start a war.

 

BTW Every squadron pilot has to keep current on type and fly a certain number (I am not sure how many) of flying hours per month. If he drops below that number he is no longer current and needs extra flying hours to get back to current status.