Thailand takes delivery of Textron T-6C turboprop trainers

Thailand has taken delivery of its first Textron Aviation T-6C Texan II turboprop trainers, for use in training or as attack aircraft.

Two T-6Cs have been delivered to Royal Thai Air Force Kamphaeng Saen northeast of Bangkok. A welcoming ceremony was attended by US Ambassador Robert Godec.

Thailand desperately needs more military aircraft if the war against Myanmar’s drug billionaires is ever to get underway, let alone be won.

The country paid 5.8 billion baht (US$162 million) for 12 T-6Cs in 2020 to replace Pilatus PC-9 turboprop trainers in three squadrons at the RTAF flight training school at Kamphaeng Saen. Textron said in 2020 when announcing the order that the T-6C will be the platform for an integrated training system.

Thailand also paid 5.1 billion baht (US$143 million) for eight AT-6 Wolverine light attack aircraft in November last year. They will be delivered in 2024 and will replace the Aero L-39 jet trainer.

The AT-6s will be used to support border security as well as for anti-smuggling, counter-narcotics and anti-human trafficking operations. So the war against the overseas billionaires behind Thailand’s drug problem, or at least their slave labourers, won’t be underway for a while yet. The civil war against Thailand’s drug victims will have to serve for now.

In fact, an AT-6E demonstrator aircraft arrived at Chiang Mai airport on November 15 and was then flown to Kamphaeng Saen.

The AT-6 Wolverine is developed from the T-6 airframe and designed for light attack, armed reconnaissance and counterinsurgency missions and can employ weapons including laser-guided bombs and rockets.

It is fitted with an L3 Wescam MX-15D multi-sensor suite, which provides colour and IR cameras, a laser designator, a laser illuminator and a laser rangefinder for weapons targeting and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance tasks.