Paul Lewis/BANGKOK
New jobs inevitably entail fresh challenges and the position of commander in chief of the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) is certainly no exception. Air Chief Marshal Tananit Niamtan reached the pinnacle of his 27 year air force career in October 1997, just as Thailand's economy was diving headlong into the worst financial trough in decades. He faces the unenviable task of reeling in spending while maintaining operational readiness.
The RTAF is one of the world's oldest air forces, tracing its origins back to 1911 and, with more than 250 aircraft in service, ranks today as one of the largest in South East Asia. Before the recent financial onslaught, the air force was facing a bright future, with a second squadron of 18 Lockheed Martin F-16A/B fighters just delivered, eight Boeing F/A-18C/D Hornets on order and new transport, tanker and airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft in prospect.
Much of this has fallen victim to Thailand's fiscal implosion and subsequent $17 billion bail out from the International Monetary Fund. A succession of defence cuts has slashed the RTAF's 21.5 billion baht ($542million) budget for 1998 by more than 23%. More damaging has been a dive of over 50% in the value of the baht against the US dollar, pushing many planned procurements beyond the reach of the military.
Tananit explains: "When we signed some of these contracts about four years ago, the dollar was worth around 25-26 baht. Right now it is trading at around 45-46 baht, so this means we have to pay almost double the amount for which we signed these contracts. "
The RTAF is being forced to curtail spending on seven major programmes already in the procurement pipeline. The chief casualty has been the air force's order (placed in 1996) for four F-18C and four tandem seat F-18Ds. Thailand had paid only $74.5 million of the $392 million due in total under the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract when the cash crunch came.
THREE CHOICES
Tananit continues: "This year we were due to pay them $93 million, but we didn't have the money." As a result, the RTAF faced three choices: postponing delivery of the fighters by three years, selling them to a third country or cancelling the programme. Tananit's preference was for either of the latter two options, but none of them proved financially attractive.
Thai officials estimate that, with interest rates at 9%, extending the FMS deal would cost another $40 million. Furthermore, the 1996 deal represented only the first stage of a planned two part purchase and by itself did not contain a sufficient quantity of spares, weapons or aircraft. "If we were to buy another eight fighters to get a full squadron, we would have to spend another $300 million," adds Tananit.
The search for a third party buyer has proved elusive. While countries such as Chile and the Philippines have outstanding fighter requirements, none is ready to make an immediate decision. In the interim, Thailand would have had to continue to make scheduled payments until a customer could be found.
Equally unattractive was an outright cancellation of the two year old deal. With vendor systems ordered and parts production already under way to meet an initial June 1999 delivery schedule, Thailand faced contractual default penalties of some $250 million. Adjustments by the US Defence Security Assistance Agency subsequently reduced this.
Tananit recalls: "They sent a team to Bangkok after Mr Cohen's [US Secretary of Defence] visit. We asked them to check out the details - what we would have to pay if we cancelled. They finally came back and told us we would be left to pay $130 million."
Nonetheless, it was $130 million that Thailand simply either could not afford or did not have. Implicit recognition of this came in mid-March with US President Bill Clinton's announcement relieving Thailand of its F-18 FMS obligations. The decision served as a political gesture to Thai premier Chuan Leekpai during his visit to Washington. The US Navy now has to find a home for the aircraft and the RTAF is expected to forfeits its downpayments.
The latter appears to be a moot point with the senior air force officers, who had been wishing for a refund on some if not all of the $74.5 million. The RTAF had hoped to use the money to revive earlier stalled plans for an avionics upgrade of its F-16s and older Northrop F-5s in lieu of new F/A-18s. "We've already looked at the specifications for an upgrade, but without a budget we can't do it," concedes Tananit.
Thailand is understood to have all but signed an initial $45 million deal for a mid-life upgrade of its first squadron of 18 Block 15 standard F-16A/Bs before the recent crisis. The aircraft, comprising 12 single seat As and six tandem seat Bs, were first delivered to the Nakhon Ratchasima-based 103 Squadron in 1988. A second batch of 18 fighters was delivered in 1995-6.
An F-16 mid life update would give the aircraft the capability to carry the Raytheon AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM). The US Government has promised to make the AMRAAM available to Thailand once other similar active radar guided missiles were supplied to the region, such as the Vympel R-77 (AA-12 Adder) delivered to Malaysia and Vietnam. "We've asked-but the money is not there at the moment," adds Tananit.
Other future enhancements include funding for Leigh Aerosystems' development of an extended range GBU-12 Paveway II laser guided bomb. The Longshot modification consists of a strap on global positioning system antenna, flight control computer and extendible wings, giving the weapon a range of up to 30km (16nm).
"This [the Longshot] is still going ahead-if it works and becomes commercially viable, we'll get some percentage share of the money," explains Tananit. Longer term RTAF interest in an enhanced stand off weapon capability for the F-16 appears to focus on the development of a lightweight Lockheed Martin/Rafael AGM-142/Popeye II missile. The RTAF had earlier also selected Elbit of Israel as prime contractor for a follow-on navigation and weapons systems upgrade for its some 35 surviving F-5E/Fs. A contract is being finalised in the expectation that money will be forthcoming eventually.
PYTHON 4
There is also speculation that the aircraft could be armed with the new Rafael Python 4 air to air missile in place of the Python 3, necessitating a helmet mounted sight. For cost reasons, a planned retrofit of a new multimode radar has been dropped in favour of a refurbishing the existing Emerson APG-153/157/159.
A 1980s US Air Force administered modernisation provided for new GEC-Marconi head up displays, Litton LN-39 inertial navigation systems and ALE-40 chaff/flare dispenser and ALR-46 radar warning receiver. Local sources say a single F-5E, believed to be flown by Thai Crown Prince Watsilalongkon Machidon, has received unspecified improvements in Chile.
Thailand's financial difficulties have meant that lower priority acquisitions have had to be put aside. These include a longstanding interest in an AEW aircraft to augment the Royal Thai Air Defence System's (RTADS) ground-based radars. Officials warn in the meantime that Phase 3 of the RTADS project awarded to Northrop Grumman, formerly Westinghouse, is another project facing refinancing and delay.
Other planned procurements on the backburner include more transport aircraft and an inflight refuelling capability. The RTAF operates 12 Lockheed Martin C-130H/ H-30s and six Alenia G222s, but needs more to complete the replacement of its Fairchild C-123s and Douglas C-47s. Talks had also been held with Israel Aircraft Industries on acquiring boom equipped Boeing 707 tankers to support the F-16s.
The Thai military is also facing growing pressure for a long overdue reform of the procurement system, to become more cost efficient. "Each service has the freedom to select and choose a weapon to suit their forces," explains Tananit. This has resulted in the purchase of three different types of similar helicopters, the Sikorsky S-70B Seahawk for the Royal Thai Navy's (RTN) anti-submarine role, the Bell 212 for army transport and the Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma for the RTAF Royal Flight.
The RTAF faces a period of austerity, while the Thai economy struggles to rebuild itself. The daunting challenge now before Tananit is to steer the air force through and try to fine tune the system to perform to the same standard, but with substantially fewer resources.
Source: Flight International
