Thailand Receives First Five Oplot Battle Tanks

Thailand takes delivery of first five Oplot main battle tanks produced at Ukraine's state-owned Malyshev Plant (Kharkiv) under a contract signed in 2011.

The parties signed a technical acceptance certificate for the tanks based on the completion of a full cycle of running and firing tests in Kharkiv on Tuesday evening, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

"The foreign customer has confirmed that the technical characteristics of the Oplots fully meet the requirements laid down in the contract," Ukrspecexport said.

In addition to technical acceptance, the parties will later sign a final acceptance certificate for the tanks, the company said.

In September 2011, Ukraine and Thailand signed a contract worth over $200 million on supplies of 49 Ukrainian Oplot main battle tanks to Thailand. Ukroboronprom's Malyshev Plant started fulfilling the contract in the spring of 2012.

In recent years Ukraine has been actively developing military and technical cooperation with Thailand. The contracts concluded with Thailand in 2006-2011 for supplies of Ukrainian military hardware, in particular BTR-3E1 armored personnel carriers and Oplot tanks, are being implemented today, and are estimated to be worth $500 million.