Thai Navy Denies Nasa Unloading Its Gear

[webfact]

Navy denies Nasa unloading its gear

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Navy yesterday dismissed as groundless an allegation by the opposition Democrat Party that Nasa had been allowed to unload equipment for use in a weather research project based at U-tapao airbase before the government had given the project the green light.

"It is false information and groundless. There is no US equipment. If the US wants to land or unload anything at U-tapao, they need to ask permission from the Navy. There is neither [anything] secret, nor spy planes at the airbase," said the commander of the Royal Thai Navy, Admiral Kanat Thongpol. "There is nothing, I can guarantee. Please trust me; I take care of this matter."

Democrat spokesman Chavanond Intarakomalyasut said earlier the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration started unloading its equipment for the research project at U-tapao on May 18, a month before the opposition disclosed the project to the public.

"If Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul could answer this question, I believe the Cabinet would be able to approve the project without any problem," Chavanond said.

Surapong did not answer Chavanond's questions yesterday but the ruling Pheu Thai Party's spokesman Promphong Nopparit called on the Democrats to dump Chavanond from his position, saying he continually released false information that confused the public, simply for political gain.

"The true information from the Navy is a big slap in the face for the Democrats. The party has overly politicised the issue to discredit the government, without regard for the national interest," Promphong said.

Defence Ministry spokesman Thanatip Sawangsaeng said the date of May 18 as mentioned by the Democrats was from an old Nasa schedule.

"The project has not yet been approved by the Thai government due to legal technicalities, so the project is not on schedule as planned," he said.

Democrat MP Tavorn Senneam said he was disappointed with military commanders who offered assurances that the Nasa project had no security implications.

"The commanders of the armed forces should express their concern over the project since it might affect security matters," he said, adding that Nasa might have a hidden military agenda as the high-altitude ER-2 aircraft it plans to use was developed from the U2 spy plane.

Defence Ministry spokesman Thanatip, who is an Army colonel, said the ER-2 was designed for scientific research purposes. It can fly at high altitude but is not a spy aircraft, he said.

Nasa said on its website that ER-2 high-altitude aircraft will fly into the stratosphere to the edge of space while the National Science Foundation's G-V and Nasa's DC-8 aircraft sample the atmosphere below it. An array of sensors spread across the region at locations on the ground and in the South China Sea will observe the atmosphere from the bottom up, it said.

A Thai Super King Air 350 from the Bureau of Royal Rainmaking and Agricultural Aviation would also participate in the search project.

-- The Nation 2012-06-25

[Pseudolus]

"There is nothing, I can guarantee. Please trust me; I take care of this matter."

So by that we can safely assume that a fleet of U2's are now based there, a handful of drones, and the CIA and unloading boxes of cash then

[cougar52]

Pheu Thai Party's spokesman Promphong Nopparit called on the Democrats to dump Chavanond from his position, saying he continually released false information that confused the public, simply for political gain.

It sounds a little like their own false information minister Jatuporn Promphan.

[BeforeTigers]

"Please trust me"?

There's something something you would never hear back in the States.

[Pseudolus]

The duplicitous nature of these clowns makes me believe that they have taken a load of cash from the Chinese to not allow the US in, and a load of cash from the Americans to allow them in, but secretly. I wonder if this guy will be removed from active duty fora couple of weeks soon before reappearing in some other money making important position soon after?

[ThaiOats]

Whether the schedule is outdated or not, NASA had the information accessible on their webpage. You can hardly blame the Democrats for taking initiative and do research on the project. What if it wasn't outdated and was true, then Thai people would've just got shafted. There's nothing wrong with bringing out information and questioning it, those who choose not to question, lacks critical thinking and observation skills.

[saltandpepper]

If they deny, it's probably happening

[Moruya]

"There is nothing, I can guarantee. Please trust me; I take care of this matter."

So by that we can safely assume that a fleet of U2's are now based there, a handful of drones, and the CIA and unloading boxes of cash then

I wonder who put the comma there?

[FOODLOVER]

They're cloaked.

[WhizBang]

The web site page simply says SHIPPED. It does not say arrived. It is a mission planning calander. Nothing else.

My guess is that this requires something Thais cannot do, and that is advance planning. Because advance planning seems to escape the Thai mindset, they are incapable of understanding the situitation.

From the NASA website:

Schedule Overview:

May 25 Science equipment arrives at DAOF for sea shipment

June 1 Sea shipment departs for Thailand

July 23 Science equipment arrives at DAOF for air shipment prep.

August 1 Sea shipments arrive in Thailand

August 1 Air shipment leaves DAOF

August 3 Air shipment arrives in Thailand

So it would appear that equipment arrival is scheduled for the beginning of August. Still 5 odd weeks away.

If, whoever is responsible for this brouhaha, had even bothered to look further, they would have found the above information. Or perhaps if they had actually asked somebody connected with the project.

Nothing like looking a complete fool on the world stage. Way to go Thailand.

[jonclark]

The Dems and Thailand in general need to know something. If the US really wanted to spy on Thailand, they could and would. Their surveillance technologies and methods re 100 years beyond anything Thailand has or will have. Don't worry about National security and being spied on the US probably knows all your military capabilities and weapons stockpiles better than the Thai military commanders do themselves.

Thailand has no National security when it comes to US intelligence gathering.

[Bagwan]

The web site page simply says SHIPPED. It does not say arrived. It is a mission planning calander. Nothing else.

My guess is that this requires something Thais cannot do, and that is advance planning. Because advance planning seems to escape the Thai mindset, they are incapable of understanding the situitation.

From the NASA website:

Schedule Overview:

May 25 Science equipment arrives at DAOF for sea shipment

June 1 Sea shipment departs for Thailand

July 23 Science equipment arrives at DAOF for air shipment prep.

August 1 Sea shipments arrive in Thailand

August 1 Air shipment leaves DAOF

August 3 Air shipment arrives in Thailand

So it would appear that equipment arrival is scheduled for the beginning of August. Still 5 odd weeks away.

If, whoever is responsible for this brouhaha, had even bothered to look further, they would have found the above information. Or perhaps if they had actually asked somebody connected with the project.

Nothing like looking a complete fool on the world stage. Way to go Thailand.

It takes two months to arrive by sea? Who and how many are rowing?

[Payboy]

The web site page simply says SHIPPED. It does not say arrived. It is a mission planning calander. Nothing else.

Maybe it's held up at Laksi post office alongwith my Amazon.com purchase.

[animatic]

The Dems and Thailand in general need to know something. If the US really wanted to spy on Thailand, they could and would. Their surveillance technologies and methods re 100 years beyond anything Thailand has or will have. Don't worry about National security and being spied on the US probably knows all your military capabilities and weapons stockpiles better than the Thai military commanders do themselves.

Thailand has no National security when it comes to US intelligence gathering.

Well this really is the point.

They know already most anything the care to know about Thailands government and military business, USA does military exercises IN THAILAND with the Thai Army...

This is about the weather.

China is watched 24/7/356 from space and from land,

there is nothing much that isn't known that isn't hidden deeply underground,

these weather planes will not sus that out anyway, the satellittes are better for that.

No doubt signals trafic is monitored 10 ways to sunday on the ground,

and narrow beamed back up to USA satellites anyway.

A plane is far to obvious and costly.

But monitoring the changing weather patterns of the south china sea from Philippines

through Viet Nam, Thailand and off to Burma and Bangladesh is best done from

the central location on land of Thailand. Including fly over rights to West

and S. East to the seas and North to the large regular weather paths.

Hurricane tracking is a large percentage of weather monitoring needs,

but also gathering large data clusters of the upper atmosphericchanges

that cause cyclone track changes is needed.

Let's see :

they complained about not having enough info about weather to predict flooding,

but when a serious international weather observation opportunity crops up...

they start moaning; OUR SOVEREIGNTY IS AT RISK.

Nationalizm: the last refuge of scoundrels and fools.

Edited June 25, 2012 by animatic

[Moruya]

The Thai army can do the research with its dirigible

[IAMSOBAD]

Thailand wants to leave the ranks of THIRD WORLD and fall into FOURTH WORLD. Any chance to better itself...they say NO.

Remember the floods and the aircraft carrier they sent away?

Sent from Galaxy Note Smartphone //Deleted//

[h90]

The duplicitous nature of these clowns makes me believe that they have taken a load of cash from the Chinese to not allow the US in, and a load of cash from the Americans to allow them in, but secretly. I wonder if this guy will be removed from active duty fora couple of weeks soon before reappearing in some other money making important position soon after?

Take money from USA to allow

Take money from China to block

Take more money from USA to unblock

Take more money from China to block again

etc etc

But after they look on their bank accounts they'll think all others are clowns.

[hansnl]

The Dems and Thailand in general need to know something. If the US really wanted to spy on Thailand, they could and would. Their surveillance technologies and methods re 100 years beyond anything Thailand has or will have. Don't worry about National security and being spied on the US probably knows all your military capabilities and weapons stockpiles better than the Thai military commanders do themselves.

Thailand has no National security when it comes to US intelligence gathering.

That said, since the ouvertures from Thailand in the direction of China, military seen, there might be?

[Payboy]

The Thai army can do the research with its dirigible

Right now they're researching ways to make it stop leaking.

[55Jay]

Whether the schedule is outdated or not, NASA had the information accessible on their webpage. You can hardly blame the Democrats for taking initiative and do research on the project. What if it wasn't outdated and was true, then Thai people would've just got shafted. There's nothing wrong with bringing out information and questioning it, those who choose not to question, lacks critical thinking and observation skills.

The web site page simply says SHIPPED. It does not say arrived. It is a mission planning calander. Nothing else.

My guess is that this requires something Thais cannot do, and that is advance planning. Because advance planning seems to escape the Thai mindset, they are incapable of understanding the situitation.

From the NASA website:

Schedule Overview:

May 25 Science equipment arrives at DAOF for sea shipment

June 1 Sea shipment departs for Thailand

July 23 Science equipment arrives at DAOF for air shipment prep.

August 1 Sea shipments arrive in Thailand

August 1 Air shipment leaves DAOF

August 3 Air shipment arrives in Thailand

So it would appear that equipment arrival is scheduled for the beginning of August. Still 5 odd weeks away.

If, whoever is responsible for this brouhaha, had even bothered to look further, they would have found the above information. Or perhaps if they had actually asked somebody connected with the project.

Nothing like looking a complete fool on the world stage. Way to go Thailand.

Oh, thought ThaiOats said Dems had taken the initiative to investigate the project, which consisted of visiting the NASA website.

Maybe they Googled backwards, ended up on the ASEAN site.

Dems taking the initiative = sitting on the NASA request since it was submitted to them a year and a half ago?

So it's now a crisis! A brushfire! The reason governments exist!

Ying and Gang got a free trip to Pattaya last week.

They called ahead so the Admiral down there could hide the ASAN NASA planes and cargo.

Edited June 25, 2012 by 55Jay

[55Jay]

The Dems and Thailand in general need to know something. If the US really wanted to spy on Thailand, they could and would. Their surveillance technologies and methods re 100 years beyond anything Thailand has or will have. Don't worry about National security and being spied on the US probably knows all your military capabilities and weapons stockpiles better than the Thai military commanders do themselves.

Thailand has no National security when it comes to US intelligence gathering.

Well this really is the point.

They know already most anything the care to know about Thailands government and military business, USA does military exercises IN THAILAND with the Thai Army...

This is about the weather.

China is watched 24/7/356 from space and from land,

there is nothing much that isn't known that isn't hidden deeply underground,

these weather planes will not sus that out anyway, the satellittes are better for that.

No doubt signals trafic is monitored 10 ways to sunday on the ground,

and narrow beamed back up to USA satellites anyway.

A plane is far to obvious and costly.

But monitoring the changing weather patterns of the south china sea from Philippines

through Viet Nam, Thailand and off to Burma and Bangladesh is best done from

the central location on land of Thailand. Including fly over rights to West

and S. East to the seas and North to the large regular weather paths.

Hurricane tracking is a large percentage of weather monitoring needs,

but also gathering large data clusters of the upper atmosphericchanges

that cause cyclone track changes is needed.

Let's see :

they complained about not having enough info about weather to predict flooding,

but when a serious international weather observation opportunity crops up...

they start moaning; OUR SOVEREIGNTY IS AT RISK.

Nationalizm: the last refuge of scoundrels and fools.

yeah, but they still won't let me tour their aircraft carrier at Sattahip. I hope someone reads your post, maybe they'll allow tours for 80 baht. That's what I paid last time to enter their beach. Bummer.