Military Sale To Thailand Means 'russia Controls

[udon]

Military sale to Thailand means 'Russia controls region'

The Russian media reported this morning that the Thai government has agreed to a secret $500 million deal to buy Russian fighter jets and helicopters for the Royal Thai Air Force.

The reports made no mention of the Thai government's claim at home that this is to be a barter deal. Premier Thaksin Shinawatra also has never mentioned helicopters before, although he confirmed there might be a deal to obtain the 12 Sukhol-30 fighter jets.

"This is good news for Russia, we haven't sold a single cartridge to Thailand," enthused Konstantin Makiyenko, deputy head of the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies to the Moscow Times today.

"It also means that Russia has taken over the region - we have fighter jets in China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and now Thailand."

The Moscow media report said the deal is preliminary and was signed last week in Kuala Lumpur when President Vladimir Putin and Mr Thaksin were both at the East Asia Summit in Kuala Lumpur.

It said Russia has signed a preliminary agreement to sell $500 million worth of military aircraft to Thailand, and added it was "the first such deal with the traditional US arms client."

"We signed a memorandum for 12 Sukhoi-30MKMs during President Vladimir Putin's visit [last week] to Malaysia," a senior official at Irkut, the privately controlled maker of the Sukhoi fighter, was quoted as saying.

Thailand originally agreed to buy the jets last year but put off the deal after a tsunami that killed hundreds of thousands of people hit the region last December, said the Moscow reports.

The Irkut executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of negotiations, said the memorandum of understanding also included delivery of helicopters to Thailand, according to Moscow reports.

"We have gone half the distance and expect to sign the contract in the first half of next year," said Alexei Fyodorov, Irkut board chairman.

Makiyenko estimated that the deal would bring Russia at least $500 million. Rosoboronexport, the state arms sales agency, was not available for comment to the Russian media.

[ilyushin]

The Russians have an outstanding debt with Thailand and the PM wants to use that in his favor to get the jets and rotors. I understand that it is subject to 100% barter trade as all transactions exceeding Baht 300 million must be under the barter trade system as defined by the MoC.

The helicopters have been discussed for several years and may become a reality, but the jets are not a sure thing. The Thai PM has signed MOUs with several other aircraft manufactures and hasn't lived up to his side of the bargain.

It won't be rice , it is chicken.