By Jun Ji-hye
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), the nation’s sole aircraft maker, will sign a 296 billion won ($258 million) deal later this month to export an additional eight T-50 supersonic trainer jets to Thailand, an industry source said Wednesday.
“The deal will be signed in Seoul tentatively on July 29,” the source said, asking not to be named.
The signing is planned as Thailand’s military government, which took power following a 2014 coup, approved the acquisition of eight T-50s, Tuesday, adding to the four aircraft it purchased in 2015.
Announcing the decision, Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said, “We got the South Korean ones.”
He added, “You can see that we are not tied to one particular country,” apparently mindful of the controversy that the country’s most recent defense purchases have been Chinese including a deal to buy three submarines.
The Bangkok Post reported, quoting an unidentified source, “The purchase (of eight T-50s) will be financed by the dedicated budget of the Royal Thai Air Force over the next three years.”
In 2015, Thailand ordered four KAI T-50s in a $110 million deal to replace L-39 trainer jets made by the Czech Republic, which will be decommissioned.
The delivery of four aircraft will be completed by next year.
KAI developed the T-50 in 2001 with technical assistance from the U.S. aerospace giant Lockheed Martin.
About 2 trillion won was invested in the large-scale national project to develop the homegrown supersonic trainer jet that took eight years to develop.
The Korean company, based in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, has also manufactured aerobatic and combat variants, namely the T-50B, TA-50 and FA-50, as well as the Surion utility helicopter.
A total of 144 units of the T-50 family have been deployed by the South Korean Air Force, while 16 T-50s were exported to Indonesia in 2011.
Korea also signed a deal with Iraq to export 24 T-50IQs in 2013, and with the Philippines to export 12 FA-50PHs, a light combat version of the T-50, in 2014.
According to military officials, Thailand has also shown interest in buying Korea’s armored cars and rifles.
As part of their efforts to explore Korea’s defense industries and organizations, defense officials and scientists from Thailand, including Maj. Gen. Sombat Prasankasem, deputy director of the Defense Science and Technology Department, visited Korea last month.
During their visit, Thai officials toured defense companies such as Poongsan and S&T Motiv.
Poongsan produces ammunition, while S&T Motiv manufactures rifles and machineguns, such as the K-2 and K-12.