"The PM wants the budget to be spent on urgent efforts to help the people. Budgets that have already been approved will remain unchanged," the newspaper quoted sources as saying on Monday.
By deferring buying armament the prime minister wishes to redirect budget for rather urgent needs, such as help people affected by natural disasters. Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) commander Phanphakdee Phatthanakul confirmed that the government had asked the armed forces to put special attention to dealing with disasters.
Meanwhile, the commander said that RTAF would set up a working panel to consider procuring new fighter jets in the 2025 fiscal year. He clarified that the prime minister had earlier said that if Thailand was to buy any military equipment from other countries, they would have to convince them to buy Thai products as part of the deal in return.
At the same time, Phanphakdee denied information of RTAF acquiring three Sweden's Gripen jet fighters soon, after the United States refused to sell F-35A aircraft to Thailand. He said that RTAF was not looking forward to procuring jet fighters in the 2024 fiscal year because of the country's economic situation.
The new jets procurement deals could be considered in the fiscal year 2025 as Phanphakdee said, but there is no certainty whether these would be Gripen or F-16 aircraft. The official said that RTAF would have to replace F-16 fighters fleet eventually for decommissioning between 2028 and 2031.