Thailands Air force seeks to purchase 8 F35 fighter jets from the US

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January 4, 2022 at 6:43 pm
Air Chief Marshal Napadej Dhupatemiya of the Royal Thai Air Force, this week, outlined a plan to procure 8 F35 fighter jets from the United States.
Thailand’s military defence expenditure has not been above the NATO recommended level of 2% of GDP since 1997, the year of the Asian Financial Crisis. This year it is projected to be 1.22% or even lower but just above a historic low of 1.05% in 2005 under the popular government of Thaksin Shinawatra which consistently cut spending on arms. After three years of economic malaise and two years of the COVID-19 virus crisis, Thailand is pulling back on government expenditure in 2022 and the country’s military budget is experiencing its third year of decline to one of the lowest expenditure to GDP ratios in the kingdom’s history. This is coming at a time of increased tensions and instability in the Asia Pacific as China and the United States appear increasingly at odds. In a week when the Royal Thai Air Force put forward its plans to purchase eight F35 fighter jets from the US, the question must be asked, what is Thailand’s defence strategy and against whom will it be defending itself against? This week, Air Chief Marshal Napadej Dhupatemiya of the Royal Thai Air Force put forward the air force’s case for the purchase of eight state of the art F35 fighter jets from the United States in a transaction that could cost the kingdom somewhere between $560 million and $648 million or up to ฿21.51 billion in what the air force commander described as a good deal considering the alternative Swedish Saab Gripen jets would cost $670 million or ฿22.24 billion while noting the former price of what is arguably the world’s most sophisticated fighter jet had previously been set at up to $142 million each.
https://www.thaiexaminer.com/thai-news-foreigners/2022/01/04/f35-fighters-proposal-with-defence-budget-at-low-ebb/
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Go QHL !! keep buying those jets ..... QHL orders would surely start to increase throughout 2022.