Thailand purchases Chinese submarine
0 Comment(s)
Print
E-mail en.people.cn, May 10, 2017
The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) on Monday signed a contract with a Chinese company to procure an S26T diesel-electric submarine, a move experts believe will promote China's export of conventional submarines.
![The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) on May 8 signed a contract with a Chinese company to procure an S26T diesel-electric submarine. [Photo/en.people.cn]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20170510/b8aeed990a581a7cab4f02.jpg "The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) on May 8 signed a contract with a Chinese company to procure an S26T diesel-electric submarine. [Photo/en.people.cn]") |
|
The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) on May 8 signed a contract with a Chinese company to procure an S26T diesel-electric submarine. [Photo/en.people.cn] |
The contract was signed in Beijing by RTN chief of staff, Vice Admiral Luechai Ruddit and Xu Ziqiu, chairman of the stated-owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC). According to CSIC's official website, this is the company's second submarine export contract, after an eight-ship deal with Pakistan's navy in 2015.
"The submarines from China are the cheapest, with quality that is relatively acceptable. [China] also offers services after purchase, something extra that we have received," Thailand's Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha was quoted as saying by Nationmultimedia.com in March.
The S26T will be the RTN's first submarine since the end of World War II. Due to domestic politics and a budget shortage, the country delayed its plan to buy a submarine until China offered an unbeatable deal.
According to Nationmultimedia.com, the ship will be nearly 78 meters long and 9 meters wide. It will be equipped with the latest technology, including a AIP (Air Independent Propulsion) system, which will allow the ship to stay underwater for up to 21 days without resurfacing. Normal nuclear-based submarines can dive for around seven to 10 days at a time.
Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)