BANGKOK (Reuters) -The Thai Air Force claimed on Tuesday it wished to get Gripen 39 competitor jets developed by Sweden’s SAAB to change its aging jet competitors.
The Air Force claimed it had actually invested 10 months considering all choices prior to choosing “the JAS 39 Gripen E/F has the capability to match the demand of the military doctrine and the Air Force’s strategy,” the statement said.
The Thai Air Force was initially choosing between the Gripen and the U.S.-made Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets with the final decision to buy remaining subject to approval by the Thai cabinet.
” I can verify that the Thai Air Force have actually connected their dream to acquire the Gripen competitor jets in the future,” a SAAB speaker informed Reuters.
There is presently no agreement or order in position, the speaker included.
Thailand presently has 11 JAS 39 Gripen competitor jets and loads of American F-16 and F-5 jets, several of which have actually functioned considering that the late 1980s
The Air Force had actually currently asked for a spending plan of 19 billion baht ($ 560 million) for 2025 for the acquisition of 4 brand-new undefined competitor jets, to be obtained over 2025 to 2029.
This becomes part of its long-lasting strategy to get an overall of 12 brand-new competitor jets by of 2034 to change its aging competitors.
The spending plan passed an initial analysis in June with the 2nd and 3rd analyses because of happen early following month.
($ 1 = 34.0300 baht)
(Reporting by Panu Wongcha- and Panarat Thepgumpanat in Bangkok, Stine Jacobsen in Copenhagen; Editing by Gareth Jones and Jonathan Oatis)
