Army seeks approval for more VT4 tanks

The first shipment of 28 VT-4 main battle tanks from China arrived in Thailand in October of 2017. (File photo)

The army is seeking the cabinet's approval for the purchase of 14 VT-4 battle tanks from China, at a cost of more than 2.3 billion baht, said an army source.

It will be the third batch of VT-4 tanks to be bought from China Ordnance Industries Group Corporation Limited. Each tank costs about 167 million baht, said the source.

The first batch of 28 such tanks were purchased in 2016 at a cost of 4.9 billion baht, and the second batch of 11 tanks that came in 2017 were valued at 2 billion baht.

A source in the army's procurement committee said the army wants to purchase more VT-4s because of their satisfactory performance.

Prior to switching to VT-4s, the army had unsuccessfully tried to procure T-84 Oplot-M tanks from Ukraine-based Ukroboronprom due to the unrest resulting from its conflict with Russia, said the source.

The army is also planning to procure 190 APFSDS-T shells, 60 HEAT-T shells and 150 HE-T shells, said the source.