ศาสตร์เกษตรดินปุ๋ย : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30311324

By THE NATION
THE CABINET yesterday approved the purchase of 10 main tanks from China for Bt2 billion to replace the World War II-era tanks bought from the United States 60 years ago, Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan said yesterday.
The Army signed an agreement with China to procure the VT-4 tanks, which were produced by China North Industries Corporation last year, after a deal with a Ukraine manufacturer fell through. The VT-4s are also known as MBT-3000s.
This is the second batch of VT-4 tanks to be bought from China. Under the previous commander-in-chief General Teerachai Nakwanich, the Army purchased 28 VT-4 tanks while the current Army chief General Chalermchai Sitthisart bought additional tanks to form a cavalry battalion.
Another 11 vehicles will be delivered at a later date, said Prawit, the deputy prime minister in charge of security affairs.
The Army has been looking to buy 49 tanks to replace the M-41s it bought from the US in 1957. The plan did not prove feasible over the past few years due to problems with the delivery of T-84 Oplot tanks from Ukraine.
The military government last year decided to terminate the US$241-million (Bt8.3-billion) contract it signed with Ukraine’s state-owned Malyshev Factory for 49 T-84 ‘Oplot’ (Stronghold) MBTs in 2011, as the manufacturer failed to deliver on time.
Prawit said earlier that in the five years since the tank deal was signed, the Kharkiv-based Malyshev Factory provided the Army with about 20 T-84s, although the deadline was originally set for 2014.
The decision to purchase from China was due to price. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha yesterday said that price was one-third of that of military hardware from Western countries.
“If we buy from a Western country, we need to pay three times the price offered by a country in the East. So, from whom should we buy?” he said.
Prayut, himself a former Army chief, said that the quality of the |purchased weapons would have to meet the standards set by a military committee.
The Navy plan to buy submarines from China was not on the Cabinet agenda yesterday.
In January, the Cabinet approved Bt13.5 billion to buy a Chinese-made submarine and was considering the purchase of three more.
Share this:
- Share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
- Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
- Share on X (Opens in new window) X
- Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
- Share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
- Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
- Print (Opens in new window) Print
- Share on Telegram (Opens in new window) Telegram
- Share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
- Share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
- Share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon
- Share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest