Air Force wants to procure four fighter jets at THB19 billion in fiscal 2025
A final decision will be made by June whether to purchase four Gripen fighter jets or F series fighter jets, the Air Force commander-in-chief said on Thursday.
Air Chief Marshal Phanpakdee Pattanakul said the Royal Thai Air Force had secured approval from the Cabinet to buy four fighter jets at a cost of 19 billion baht from the fiscal 2025 budget.
Phanpakdee said the procurement committee was now in the process of selecting between Gripen jets from Sweden or F series jets from the US.
He said a workshop would be held this month for the panel to consider the pros and cons of the two types of fighter jets before a decision would be made next month.
“We have to make our choice carefully because it could be our only chance to buy new fighter jets. We must use the budget most wisely,” Phanpakdee said.
He said the new jets would be necessary to replace the old fleet of jets that would be decommissioned gradually starting from 2029.
He said the Air Force was confident it could defend the jet procurement budget to a House committee vetting the fiscal 2025 budget bill.
Phanphakdee revealed that after 2029, there would be only three fleet of jets left as three other fleet would have to be decommissioned because of their age.
And there would be only two main fighter jet fleet – one at Wing 7 in Surat Thani province and another at Wing 4 in Nakhon Sawan province.
He said the four jets would have to be procured within fiscal 2025 or the Air Force would be short of fighter jets from 2029 onwards.
