Submarine procurement project put on hold, says Thai Deputy PM

[elgordo38]

Dont worry the subject will be raised again,and with a higher cost.

regards worgeordie

Sadly your right. Its a nightmare that will not go gently into the dark deep night.

[Srikcir]

The navy will scale back to two subs and Prayut will promise a third one when the two have proven their worth to national security.

This would be a workable compromise for the government as these subs may have already been ordered and cannot be terminated due to agreements between Prayut and China signed last year.

[elgordo38]

Why not use the money,instead of Subs they really dont need, and create National Service for all Thais when they reach 18yrs old ?(men)

After boot Camp Train them in different fields, that are of use to them when they complete the 2 yrs....

It would firstly get them off their bums and off the streets, and work daily....and second it would stamp out any corruption if it was in the Army (i.e.having to pay someone to get in). In 2yrs you have the start of a real workforce that has been taught the fundamentals of discipline..They would also be the first pick for the Police force after 2yrs

Watch Thailand go ahead then.....Singapore did.

just my thoughts.

Umm , they do have national service, conscripts are selected by ballot every April.

Rather than paying to get in the Army there are " informal" arrangements to get out - 35K. is the going rate I believe.

After basic training conscripts are taught golf course maintenance and a host of other domestic skills. The only thing they don't do, I gather from taking to my wife's younger relatives is any soldiering.

It's also not uncommon for conscripts to be sent home after the first year, and their pay to be, how shall we put it, redirected.

Give em all a shovel and let them deepen the now empty canals and klongs.

[Thai at Heart]

Waiting for Switzerland to.confirm how they will help boost Thai economic activity

[JakeSully]

36 billion baht. Approx 1.01 billion dollars.

For that much money, they can supply a campaign to take over Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia and double their revenue.

How come Thai's don't think like Germans. Be efficient!

[Andaman Al]

Well it sounds a lot of money but to put it in perspective, with the money that has simply disappeared with the rice pledging scam, Thailand could have bought 60 of these very expensive machines giving it one of the largest submarine fleets in the world

[webfact]

SUBMARINES
Military defers plan, will conduct more studies
THE NATION



BANGKOK: -- THE MILITARY has put on hold the proposal by the Navy to purchase three submarines from China, Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister General Prawit Wonsuwan said yesterday, suggesting the Navy will conduct more studies on the worthiness of its proposal.

The Navy had announced early this month that it had decided to allocate Bt36 billion to buy three Yuan-class submarines from China to have the fleet for protection of maritime resources. The move met strong criticism from the public, as it came during an economic downturn and the projection of a maritime threat was not clear enough.

The Navy has to resolve the question that its investment in such heavy and expensive equipment is worthy enough in the context of the estimated Bt2 trillion maritime interests in Thai waters, Prawit said.

Prawit said the Navy should come up with clear details on the benefits and explain how suitable it is to go ahead with the purchase and how it will improve the strength and potential of the Armed Forces.

Prawit, who had earlier defended the proposal, said the military had suspended the proposal for now and will not seek Cabinet approval soon.

The Navy has made several attempts since the 1990s to get a fleet of submarines, as many neighbouring Asean countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam have their own fleet. Previous proposals to acquire submarines from Germany and South Korea were never approved by civilian governments.

The Navy had expected to succeed in pushing through the proposal of the current Cabinet, as both the prime minister and defence minister are former military commanders who attached importance to the military building up its strength.

Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Kraisorn Chansuwanich said earlier that purchasing the submarines from China is a rational option, as relations between the two countries are closer and Beijing has offered a reasonable price.

The Navy has studied the project comprehensively, he said. The decision to submit the proposal was made by 17 young-generation committee members from the Submarine Squadron, who arrived at the decision after examining similar devices from six countries, he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/politics/Military-defers-plan-will-conduct-more-studies-30264540.html


-- The Nation 2015-07-16

[jerojero]

Finally a bit of common sense. Sheesh....

[Ichabod]

Temporary, tactical retreat. They will get their submarines eventually. Just like with attacking the 30 baht scheme. In the face of stiff protest, back off for a while, but then come back to the agenda later.

[LannaGuy]

altogether now... "we all wanna live in a YELLOW submarine, a YELLOW submarine"

[tx22cb]

Next in the news, the Tourism Authority of Thailand are cooperating with the Navy to purchase something from Scotland which will both boost the tourism industry and simultaneously provide much-needed training for the Navy's budding submariners at greatly reduced cost. Click on the graphic to see details.

[robblok]

Why not use the money,instead of Subs they really dont need, and create National Service for all Thais when they reach 18yrs old ?(men)

After boot Camp Train them in different fields, that are of use to them when they complete the 2 yrs....

It would firstly get them off their bums and off the streets, and work daily....and second it would stamp out any corruption if it was in the Army (i.e.having to pay someone to get in). In 2yrs you have the start of a real workforce that has been taught the fundamentals of discipline..They would also be the first pick for the Police force after 2yrs

Watch Thailand go ahead then.....Singapore did.

just my thoughts.

Crazy.. I would oppose this with all my life. Never went to the army myself as when you study in my country your exempt. You don't learn anything there and its a complete waste of time. (had friends who were forced to go there.. what do you think happened.. drinking drinking drinking)

Old people just think its good and think you learn something. Learning you do at school and when your working. Not wasting time in green.

The army is an option for dumb people.

Just use the money to overhaul the school system and provide some real education.

[MZurf]

224 to me and 0 to the 7%'ers now. I am certainly on a role. Although they have 224 excuses and I have none.

What Prayut said - "The proposal to buy three Chinese submarines has been put on hold and would not be put into consideration by the Cabinet yet, said Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan Wednesday."

What I said 4 days ago - What the navy want and what they get are two different things.

What Prayut said - "Prawit, who is also Defence Minister, said the Navy will have to work on informing the public more about the issue"

What I said 4 days ago - Prayut is receptive to the wishes of the majority as much as some deny it and the majority have said very strongly that they do not want or need these subs.

What Prayut said - come up with comparative information on what Thailand will gain in terms of maritime benefits if it will spend money on the three Chinese made submarines estimated at Bt36 billions.

What I said 4 days ago - In fact the Navy admiralty should be challenged on this proposal and present a transparent business case as to why they need them.

My comments 4 days ago here.

Of course some will strenuously deny Prayut is listening to the public and will come up with wonderful excuses as we have witnessed here as the some hate to be proven wrong so will always come up with illogical excuses to save face.

Prayut is simply being a responsible PM and doing his job professionally by asking for justification for the subs as well as ensuring that public opinion is not ignored. Well done and it is a sign of a good leader.

If only the last govt did the same thing in regards to respecting the majority instead of pushing bills through parliament at 4am against the wishes of them.

Political white noise here. Silence then.

It is not even hypocritical. It is simply crazy to stay silent on undemocratic behaviour of a previous regime, but to make excuses for the democratic tendencies of this one.

The current government has finally bowed to a torrent of negative criticism against an inane plan and this proves their excellent governing skills??

And of course, the ubiquitous 7%. Booooooring!

[Seastallion]

Unbelievable. They have actually listened to public opinion. Well knock me down with a feather.

"They have actually listened to public TVF opinion. "

You'd better believe it!

[Seastallion]

And it has been recently revealed in the news that China buys submarines from the UK....."Made in China" not good enough for the Chinese, so maybe not good enough for Thailand, too.

[Stradavarius37]

A reasonable man may point out the only use for the submarines is to spy on and attack the shipping of aggressor countries....but their are no aggressors. So, no need for submarines.

Those are the only uses? Really? Top military strategist we have here folks...

[IamNoone88]

Hot sub = hot potato.

[LannaGuy]

altogether now... "we all wanna live in a YELLOW submarine, a YELLOW submarine"

The red shirted People's Democratic Republic of Lanna will want their own, too.

if I knew where it was... if you mean Northern Thailand there's not much water here

so what insight is next for your post number 29?

[realenglish1]

There must have been a formidable amount of opposition to the subs. This will be a very hard sell for the public to swallow

I doubt they are going to sell the idea to the public Its a total waist of money If they postponed it that tells you there is little real need for them

[timber]

I they can justify having a sub. "a" Then I would think that the money would be best spent on a very good one with state of the art stuff, rather than three subs with high maintenance and manpower.

[English 1]

A bit of sense at last...Thailand would be a joke to get these boats.

As they say 'The difference between Men and Boys is the size of their toys!'

Whats the next nutty idea going to be?

[janpharma]

Well done!

[Srikcir]

Well, crap! Now their neighbors won't "stand in awe".

Thailand is playing catch up with some neighbors.

Vietnam Gets Fourth Submarine from Russia

http://thediplomat.com/2015/07/vietnam-gets-fourth-submarine-from-russia-amid-south-china-sea-tensions/

Thailand doesn't need to catch up with its neighbors.

Thailand enjoys a security agreement with China signed in 2014 for mutual defense and has no conflict with China's claim for resources in the China Sea. There's a reason Vietnam isn't buying subs from China - Vietnam has a resource and geopolitical conflict with ITS NEIGHBOR China.

Good article TY

[jacko45k]

That's one BMW going back to the shop at least!

[Oziex1]

Would Hi So Captains actually get in there and suffer the discomfort and rub shoulders with the enlisted men.

I believe by tradition and probably by necessity officers in subs have informal relaxed working relationships with the crew.

[ldiablo]

They could always purchase 3 mini submersible like they use whem searching for wreckage at the bottom of oceans.

[Srikcir]

Prayut didn't torpedo the sub puchases, just delayed approval. He just ordered the navy to Dive, Dive and Go to Periscope Depth.

The Navy was denied its request for subs during the Yingluck regime. It appears it wants to take advantage of the Junta's control of the government to press for sub purchases.

So the Navy doesn't need to convince the cabinet (aka Prayut) or the NLA (aka Prayut), only Prayut. And with the probable backing of Admiral Narong Pipathanasai as Deputy Leader of the NCPO, you can be sure that tentative approval was already considered by NCPO Chief Prayut.

Now that Prayut is essentially a politician as Head of Government, he needs the navy to do some PR to rally pro-Junta supporters as a show of strength. This will climax with a new Dusit or NIDA poll finding that 80%+ of those polled feel the subs are vital to the nation's security.

The sub purchases are possibly part of the Chinese dual rail deal to compensate for below market Chinese loans and three-year grace period for loan payments - essentially pure profit to the lender. Rejection of the sub purchases would upset the financial arrangements and neither party can suffer public humilitation with having to renegotiate the deal when 36 billion baht is removed from the profit margin.

But maybe another Chinese naval weapons system like advanced anti-submarine and mine sweeping capability might be substituted for the subs. This would merely be upgrades for the navy. And the Dual Rail financial deal remains in tact.

[sammygood]

why don't they buy an old US plane carrier ? I hear they have their own de-salination plant on board, that could provide at least something for the people in bangkok in case of water shortage ...

[gerry123]

Unbelievable. They have actually listened to public opinion. Well knock me down with a feather.

Well knock me down with a feather. clever trevor

[Just1Voice]

Why not use the money,instead of Subs they really dont need, and create National Service for all Thais when they reach 18yrs old ?(men)

After boot Camp Train them in different fields, that are of use to them when they complete the 2 yrs....

It would firstly get them off their bums and off the streets, and work daily....and second it would stamp out any corruption if it was in the Army (i.e.having to pay someone to get in). In 2yrs you have the start of a real workforce that has been taught the fundamentals of discipline..They would also be the first pick for the Police force after 2yrs

Watch Thailand go ahead then.....Singapore did.

just my thoughts.

Crazy.. I would oppose this with all my life. Never went to the army myself as when you study in my country your exempt. You don't learn anything there and its a complete waste of time. (had friends who were forced to go there.. what do you think happened.. drinking drinking drinking)

Old people just think its good and think you learn something. Learning you do at school and when your working. Not wasting time in green.

The army is an option for dumb people.

Just use the money to overhaul the school system and provide some real education.

The army is an option for dumb people. - Is that a fact? Let's see, I turned down the opportunity to join Mensa when I was 17. I turned down 11 full scholarships. What did I do? Well, I enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, and stayed for 20 years. During that time I acquired 2 Bachelor's and one Master's Degree. Nor was I the only one who did things of a similar nature.

I find your statement both ignorant and without any basis of knowledge.