Thailand takes delivery of Textron T-6C turboprop trainers
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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.
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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.
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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.