Thai navy fires 37 million baht torpedo at target just 46 kms from Koh Phangan

[webfact]

Picture: Naew Na

 

Naew Na reported on Thai Royal Navy maneuvers and training exercises taking place in the lower reaches of the Gulf of Thailand.

 

Highlight was the practice firing of an MK 46 torpedo that online information suggests comes in at about $1.2 million or about 37 million baht each. 

 

One was fired at a simulated target set up by navy operatives from Sattahip.

 

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Picture: Naew Na

 

The target was just 46 kilometers east of the holiday island of Koh Phangan famous pre-pandemic for its full moon parties. 

 

The torpedo was fired at a range of 2.5kms 53 meters under water. 

 

Such a torpedo is the backbone of the US Navy's lightweight anti-submarine warfare torpedo inventory and is the NATO standard, according to Wikipedia.

 

Naew Na reported that Admiral Theerakul Kanchana was overseeing the maneuvers.

 

These included ships, aircraft carriers, helicopters and submarines.

 

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Pictures: New Na

[n00dle]

odd, they don't actually mention they hit the target.

Edited March 18, 2022 by n00dle

[petermik]

Just now, n00dle said:

odd, they don't actually mention they hit the target.

the target they aimed for is known as a "flexible target" meaning whatever it hits that`s the one....cratfy beggars or what....

[spidermike007]

These guys are doing very, very important work to protect the people of Thailand from the countless threats they face on land, at sea, and in the air. What would Thailand do without their highly skilled, very capable, and extremely necessary armed forces? Such brave heroes. 

Edited March 18, 2022 by spidermike007

[SAFETY FIRST]

14 minutes ago, webfact said:

practice firing of an MK 46 torpedo that online information suggests comes in at about $1.2 million or about 37 million baht each

I don't reckon they hit anything, so I'm going down there to recover it and see if I can sell it back to them. 

Half price!!!!

 

[RafPinto]

They mean 3 Million baht torpedo.
Rest was commissions.

[RafPinto]

Shame on you.
How many people you could feet in those difficult times.

[Excel]

8 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

These guys are doing very, very important work to protect the people of Thailand from the countless threats they face on land, at sea, and in the air. What would Thailand do without their highly skilled, very capable, and extremely necessary armed forces? Such brave heroes. 

Yes they must be biting at the bit to get back to shooting people in Sukhumvit. Ah well these brave and upstanding military folks will just have to wait. In the meantime let them play with their toys so as to impress how much money they can waste whilst half the nation remain poor and destitute.

Edited March 18, 2022 by Excel

[RafPinto]

7 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

These guys are doing very, very important work to protect the people of Thailand from the countless threats they face on land, at sea, and in the air. What would Thailand do without their highly skilled, very capable, and extremely necessary armed forces? Such brave heroes. 

I think they might have seen Putinsky fleeing Ruskylandia and they wanted to warn him.

[Iamfalang]

9 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

These guys are doing very, very important work to protect the people of Thailand from the countless threats they face on land, at sea, and in the air. What would Thailand do without their highly skilled, very capable, and extremely necessary armed forces? Such brave heroes. 

There have been thousands of times in the past when a "peaceful" country operated drills, only for the sheep to proclaim, 'why?'   Luckily, they were prepared in the future when the attack DID come.   Why even have a military if you are not at war?  Why even keep any military equipment up to standard if you are not at war?  Why is China conducting exercises?  whose going to invade China?   very brave to complain.  brave to attack a country where you reside.  brave to insult their military.   brave to know more than a 5-star general or admiral or whatever.  When countries get invaded and people murdered, people will ask, "why weren't we ready?"  well, thai posters said we didn't need to!!!!!  

[RafPinto]

2 minutes ago, Iamfalang said:

There have been thousands of times in the past when a "peaceful" country operated drills, only for the sheep to proclaim, 'why?'   Luckily, they were prepared in the future when the attack DID come.   Why even have a military if you are not at war?  Why even keep any military equipment up to standard if you are not at war?  Why is China conducting exercises?  whose going to invade China?   very brave to complain.  brave to attack a country where you reside.  brave to insult their military.   brave to know more than a 5-star general or admiral or whatever.  When countries get invaded and people murdered, people will ask, "why weren't we ready?"  well, thai posters said we didn't need to!!!!!  

Yes. Laos already close to attack Thailand. Get ready.

[mtls2005]

I think that's the permanently docked aircraft carrier, HTMS Chakri Naruebet in the photo? CVH-911.

 

 

[toofarnorth]

21 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

These guys are doing very, very important work to protect the people of Thailand from the countless threats they face on land, at sea, and in the air. What would Thailand do without their highly skilled, very capable, and extremely necessary armed forces? Such brave heroes. 

Do I detect a hint , just a hint of sarcasm spidermike .

[Gottfrid]

44 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

These guys are doing very, very important work to protect the people of Thailand from the countless threats they face on land, at sea, and in the air. What would Thailand do without their highly skilled, very capable, and extremely necessary armed forces? Such brave heroes. 

Yeah, I would say they do same good as the American troops. I have not seen they having any threats they are facing  at sea, land or in the air. They just seek the problem in other countries. But, I guess that´s your brave heroes.

I will just break it down for you. There are no heroes in war. Only losers.

[BE88]

""The torpedo was fired at a range of 2.5kms 53 meters under water. """

 

The Gulf of Thailand is shallow, with an average depth of 45m and a maximum of 80m. The main rivers flowing into it are the Chao Phraya, the Mae Klong and the Tapi.

 

That's why he never hit the target.????

[ezzra]

Could it be that the torpedo use by date was about to expire and they decided to use it up before it blows up in their magazines?...

[Will B Good]

Pound to a penny at some point they'll hit one of their own, newly supplied, enginless subs.

[Will B Good]

3 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Could it be that the torpedo use by date was about to expire and they decided to use it up before it blows up in their magazines?...

Are those the magazines they hide under their bunks?

[internationalism]

"One was fired at a simulated target set up by navy operatives from Sattahip. ... The torpedo was fired at a range of 2.5kms 53 meters under water. "

 

maybe they have meant range 250km? But phangan is much further from sattahip, over 500km in a strait line.

the Gulf is very shallow, average just 20m. That's why submarines, and very possible, large torpedoes, are easy to detect from above and destroy, before they get to their target. 

And what is significance of this exercise right now? Because the chinese submarines are postponed indefinitely?

Edited March 18, 2022 by internationalism

[soi3eddie]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

These guys are doing very, very important work to protect the people of Thailand from the countless threats they face on land, at sea, and in the air. What would Thailand do without their highly skilled, very capable, and extremely necessary armed forces? Such brave heroes. 

Surely the sailors could have better target practice if they were sent to Ukraine and land based for a few weeks? Armed with Javelin and NLAW rockets they could have a lot more excitement and benefit at a much lower cost per "shot" than these unnecessary torpedos.

   

Edited March 18, 2022 by soi3eddie

[phutoie2]

22 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Could it be that the torpedo use by date was about to expire and they decided to use it up before it blows up in their magazines?...

I was thinking that too. During my time in the world's smallest and finest Air Force we regularly used some very old ammunition on live firing camps.

On one the 1000lb- ers were older than me.

Date of manufacture 1955......

 

[Enoon]

1 hour ago, mtls2005 said:

I think that's the permanently docked aircraft carrier, HTMS Chakri Naruebet in the photo? CVH-911.

 

 

It left Sattahip on the 14th and returned this morning.

 

The torpedo was launched from an S-60 helicopter, which I'm pretty sure was operating from the carrier..

 

It is a popular misconception, by those that know no better (of which there are many), that the ship never leaves port.

 

https://www.vesselfinder.com/vessels/RTN911-IMO-0-MMSI-567004000

 

 

[sammieuk1]

Well done lads you can fire another one in 2032 a cheaper boomerang model hopefully ????  

[Mac Mickmanus]

Just looking at the news report , to see whether there's any news stories about Kao Tao mysteriously disappearing over night 

[Guderian]

When they refuse to start up the engines on their aircraft carrier because it costs $5,000 just to get them going, forgive me for having grave doubts that they'd actually waste a million dollar torpedo. There's something we're not being told here, maybe the torpedo was old and had been donated by the USN, or else it was a blank and they retrieved it for future use.

[jollyhangmon]

1 hour ago, BE88 said:

""The torpedo was fired at a range of 2.5kms 53 meters under water. """

 

The Gulf of Thailand is shallow, with an average depth of 45m and a maximum of 80m. The main rivers flowing into it are the Chao Phraya, the Mae Klong and the Tapi.

 

That's why he never hit the target.????

 

... 555, but no, seriously, it could have been the subterranean variety - torpedus subterraneus in latin - I've heard it's quite a hub here, like for just about everything else under the sun ...

 

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Such a torpedo is the backbone of the US Navy's lightweight anti-submarine warfare torpedo inventory and is the NATO standard, according to Wikipedia.

I hope they've got a spare one just in case war breaks out?

[jvs]

2 hours ago, RafPinto said:

Yes. Laos already close to attack Thailand. Get ready.

Do not under estimate the Laotian Navy!

[ThailandRyan]

1 hour ago, BE88 said:

""The torpedo was fired at a range of 2.5kms 53 meters under water. """

 

The Gulf of Thailand is shallow, with an average depth of 45m and a maximum of 80m. The main rivers flowing into it are the Chao Phraya, the Mae Klong and the Tapi.

 

That's why he never hit the target.????

They were trying to use it to expand the depth of the gulf.  Looking for oil I think.

[cyril sneer]

2 hours ago, RafPinto said:

Shame on you.
How many people you could feet in those difficult times.

the money would only go on lottery tickets, back to the government to buy new missiles