Navy chief to let successor decide on buying subs with Chinese engines
Retiring Royal Thai Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Somprasong Nilasmai has left it to his successor to decide on whether to buy S26T Yuan-class submarines with Chinese engines, a source said.
Somprasong, who will retire at the end of this month, will be succeeded by Admiral Choengchai Chomchoengpaet, assistant Navy commander.
The source said Somprasong wanted to let Choengchai decide on whether to go ahead with the procurement of the second S26T Yuan-class submarine now that China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Co (CSOC) has confirmed it could not honour the contract of supplying a German-made MTU396 diesel engine.
The German company has expressed its inability to supply the engine due to an European Union arms embargo.
Last month, the CSOC sent the specifications of an improved CHD 620 engine to the Royal Thai Navy to consider after the company admitted it could not get the German-made engine.
Navy spokesman Vice Admiral Pokkrong Monthatpalin said on Thursday that the technical division of the Royal Thai Naval Dockyard has summarised the pros and cons of using the improved version of the CHD 620 engine instead of MTU396 for the Navy chief to consider.
Pokkrong said the Navy chief would soon present the report to the committee in charge of procuring the submarine and the Navy would inform the public about its decision later.
The Royal Thai Navy bought its first Yuan-class S26T submarine from China in 2017 for 13.5 billion baht.
The delivery of the second submarine was initially scheduled for September 2023 but it is expected to be delayed to 2024 because of the engine issue.
The procurement has been stuck because the Chinese firm could not honour the contract of supplying the submarines with the MTU396 engine. The ball is now in Thailand’s court but international observers believe Bangkok could risk upsetting Beijing if it scraps the deal. Some observers believe a decision on the project might be deferred until after the next election.
A source from the Royal Thai Naval Dockyard said many senior officers there are opposed to the use of CHD 620 engine, arguing that it has never been used even in Chinese submarines.
