Royal Thai Navy Secures $383M Funds For First Chinese Submarine

Thai government has approved its Navy’s plan to procure S26T (Thailand) submarines from China, and has allocated THB13.5 billion (USD383 million) to support first of three.

It is included in Thailand's 2017 Budget Bill which has been approved by Thailand's National Legislative Assembly, Bangkok Post reported.

Additional funding is expected to be allocated for two additional submarines, with total funding for Royal Thai Navy's three-boat programme to reach THB36 billion.

It is expected the vessel would be ready to enter service in six years’ time. Navy spokesman ACM Jumpol Loompikanon said: “This first submarine will cost considerably more than the other two -- which will be purchased later -- because the 13.5 billion baht will also cover weapon system costs, training courses for the crews, visits by Chinese personnel and various maintenance costs”.

The S26T is reportedly to be based on the Type 039A SSK of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) also refered as Yuan class. It was first commissioned in 2008 with a displacement of 3,600 tons and a length of 75 meters. It may feature an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system as an auxiliary system to a regular diesel-electric power.