Editorial: Confirmed - Thailand’s Military Wants a New Main Battle Tank

Russian T-90A MBT (Image: Wiki Commons)

By Franz-Stefan Gady

The Royal Thai Army is setting up a procurement committee to evaluate Chinese and Russian armor.

Thailand announced this week that it is in the process of setting up a procurement committee to evaluate Chinese and Russian tank models in order to select a new main battle tank (MBT) for service in the Royal Thai Army (RTA), the Bangkok Post reports.

Earlier in the week, the Thai military had initially denied media reports that it is considering purchasing a Russian-made tank, the T-90(M)S MBT. Now, according to Thailand’s ministry of defense, the procurement committee is purportedly considering two different Chinese and Russian MBT models.

Royal Thai Army spokesperson Colonel Winthai Suvaree emphasized that the military will make a decision based on cost-effectiveness. “The Army’s aware it’s taxpayers money,” he said. He did not go into details as to when a selection will be made, nor offer a price estimate.

Read the full story at The Diplomat