Air Force chief makes case for F35 fighter jets to replace worn-out fleets
Air Force Commander-in-Chief ACM Panpakdee Pattanakul insisted on Wednesday that the Royal Thai Air Force needs a fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter jets to replace three fleets of old and worn-out jets.
Panpakdee said the Air Force has to catch up with changes in technology and it found that one F-35 fighter jet can take on an average of 3.27 F-16 fighter jets.
“This means if we have F-35 jets in an appropriate number, they can effectively replace the jets that will be decommissioned,” Panpakdee said.
He said the purchase of F-35 fighter jets would allow the Royal Thai Air Force to learn and catch up with leading technologies in the defence industry.
He said the Air Force was not preparing to go to war with any country but it has to be prepared for any threats to national security.
Reacting to criticisms that F-35 jets would be too expensive and too advanced for use in defending the country, the Air Force chief said no one could predict what would happen in the future so the country needed to get ready to defend against external threats.
Panpakdee said the Air Force would have to decommission three fleets of worn-out jets from this year to 2032 because it cost about THB700,000 to THB1 million to service one old fighter jet.
He said the Air Force realised it could not purchase up to three new fleets, so it considered that one fleet of F-35 jets could effectively replace the three decommissioned fleets.
Panpakdee said the project to buy two F-35 jets under the fiscal 2023 budget did not state details of armament because the Air Force wanted to leave armament options open for installing weapons in about 10 years.
He said the requested budget of THB700 million would be just for making preparations of airport and aviation, supporting gears for the arrival of the new F-35 jets and it could take up to 10 years for the jets to be delivered.
He said if details of the armament were stated now, the weapons could be outdated when the jets are delivered in 10 years.
He added that the starting budget would be for training of pilots as well and the Air Force must start making preparations now or else the purchase would be delayed.
But if the project is chopped from the fiscal 2023 budget, the Air Force would request it again next year, he added.
Panpakdee was speaking to reporters when he led students from schools around the Royal Thai Air Force to watch the Top Gun Maverick movie at Major Cineplex at Future Park Rangsit under the “Road to Top Gun” project.
Panpakdee said he hoped the movie would inspire youths to want to join the Air Force when they grow up.