Posted on 12/18/2005 9:56:00 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
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.
More russian junk. Even the halfway good airplanes will have junk pilots.
We should be subsidizing the Russian effort to equip our potential enemies with inferior gear.
Simple solution to that "problem"
Just open up a "Salute to L.Ron Hubbard" museum in Bangkok.
Tom "Top Gun" Cruise would be so impressed, he'd probably train all of their pilots for free.....
..(ok...sarcasm off thingee goes in this spot...)
the Thai are paying for the planes with rice no doubt ;^)
Russia needs the rice .....
ping
ping
Nah, it means generous Russian kickbacks.
vodkha soaked Ruskie techs stumbling their way thru NEP....
I can see it now . Tell the girls to hide!
I forget all the details on this, but there is a LOT more to it. I highly doubt this 'deal' is going to go through. From what I understand, this was initially proposed by the former head of the Thai Air Force, Kongsak Wanthana. (He is now the Interior Minister by way of his connections with PM Toxin.)
Everyone is against it including the current head of the Air Force. IIRC, someone even has a recording of Kongsak publically stating that the Su-30 fighters are junk and would likely end up in the scrap pile within a few years.
For me the most interesting part is the comment about Russian helicopters being part of the deal. I had not heard that one before. I do know the army is looking into buying quite a few Blackhawks to replace some of the old Bell choppers. I have no idea who in Thailand would want the Russian choppers. I doubt anyone.
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