Reported by TAF
RTA signed the contract for Norinco VT-4 or MBT-3000
Source in RTA told TAF that the Royal Thai Army signed the contract last month with the undisclosed number of tank and contract value. But the aim is to field a battalion of VT-4.
Eelier, RTA ordered the 50 T-84 Oplot-M from Ukraine to meet the requirement of 200 new main battle tank. But the unrest in Ukraine delayed the delivery.
If RTA satisfied with the Chinese tank, the source said, they will order for to meet all unfilled requirement of 150 tanks.
“Even the VT-4 will be manufacture in China but the contract require technology transfer to Thailand. Defense Technology Institute will be one of the technology receiver”
Delivery is expected in 2 years.
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If this is true I’m going to get a big headache! Should have gotten the T-90MS!
Should have gone Russian
See related post:
No talks on buying arms during Russia trip: Prawit
U.S. restrictions on arms sales mean Thai military needs to shop elsewhere
Thailand Could Buy More Russian Mi-17V5 Helicopters
Thailand, Russia exploring ‘arms for food’ agreement
Thai defense minister to inspect T-90 tanks – report
Royal Thai Army to procure new MBT with a budget of THB8.9 billion
See details of Norinco VT-4 or MBT-3000: HERE
See details of T-99 MBT (ZTZ99A2): HERE
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Thanks for the link but the report has many discrepancies such as these tanks are to replace M60A3 which in actual fact are to replace M41A3 and the Chinese tank that RTA used to operate was T69. The poster seems to favor the Chinese tank saying it has superior armor and I doubt that as it can be seen that the side armor is just a metal plate unlike the ERA that protects the OPLOT. For the turret it needs to be seen what the MBT3000 is made of but the OPLOT has a very good turret protection. I prefer Russian T-90MS as there are plenty of armor upgrade kits and it is well known fact that Russian tanks are very tough and recently as seen in Syria a couple of T-90A withstood direct hits from ATGMs even with the older ERA. So I guess it maybe just a rumor as the news reported by BP that the PM prefers Russian tanks.
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