Monday, 19 March 2012

Thailand scuttles German submarine purchase

Bangkok  - Thailand‘s navy on Tuesday acknowledged that it had dropped plans to purchase four second-hand German submarines for an estimated 7.6 billion baht (250,000 dollars), media reports said.

"The deadline for the purchase has passed (on February 29) ... and the navy will not seek to keep the buying option," Navy Chief Admiral Surasak Runroengrom told The Nation newspaper.

Defence Minister Sukumpol Suwanatat had reportedly nixed the deal after several reviews of the navy‘s submarine purchase plan.

Under the previous administration, headed by Abhisit Vejjajiva, the government had agreed to the navy‘s plan to buy the second-hand Type 206A diesel electric submarines from the German Navy.

The 35-year-old subs had been decommissioned in mid-2010

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