Even though Thailand was once a close ally of the United States during the cold war era, that did not make Washington budge on the White Elephant Country's special request to be able to acquire F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jets. Exactly, on the same fate as Indonesia, Thailand's request to be able to buy the F-35 has been rejected by the US.
Similar to what was 'experienced' by Indonesia, the US gave subtle refusals, such as saying that the Thai Air Force (Royal Thai Air Force / RTAF) was considered not ready to operate fifth-generation fighter jets. And similar to the approach to Indonesia, then the US offered an alternative 'consolation' fighter jet - namely the F-16 Viper or F-15EX Eagle, which were considered more suitable to be operated by Washington's 'second tier' allies in Southeast Asia.
Quoted from Nationthailand.com (24/5/2023), an RTAF source said last Tuesday, that US Ambassador to Thailand, Robert F Godec met with Thaland Air Chief Marshal Alongkorn Wannarot last week to personally brief him on Washington's decision.
The source quoted Godec as saying that the RTAF does not have the necessary facilities or safeguards to accommodate the fighter jets. However, the source expressed reservations, saying the rejection seemed more due to President Joe Biden's administration feeling Bangkok was leaning too heavily on Beijing.
The source said the US envoy had told the RTAF chief that "when Thailand is ready, the US will be willing to hold talks again on procuring the F35 fighter jets".
So far, the RTAF has not suffered any loss from the rejection, apart from having to return the 369 million baht it has withdrawn from the 2023 defense budget. This amount is allocated for the first installment if the US agrees to sell F-35 fighter jets to Thailand.
Flashback to November 2022, initially the Thai Air Force hoped to buy eight units of the F-35A Lightining II, but now, only two units are realistic to buy. Even that still leaves a number of challenges, from within the country, for example, the plan to buy the F-35 is met with resistance from the opposing camp.
With the possibility of only being able to buy two units, at that time Thailand was projected to be the country with the 'smallest' number of F-35 orders.
Thai Air Force Chief Marshal Alongkorn Wannarot said that his party still decided to acquire two F-35A fighter jets made by Lockheed Martin, despite resistance from the opposition. The number one person in the Thai Air Force said that the country is now waiting for a decision from the US Congress about whether sales to Thailand will be approved or not.
The RTAF has been pushing to buy two F-35s for 7.38 billion baht to replace its aging fleet of F-16 fighter jets. However, Alongkorn has indicated that the chances of the US agreeing to sell the F-35 are only 50 percent.
F-35 Special for Uncle Sam's Country Loyalists
Apart from the reasons for the US citing the technical unpreparedness of the prospective F-35 buyer country, political overtones cannot be ruled out. Under the pretext of protecting the F-35 technology from enemy threats, the US must turn off potential F-35 user countries that are in the US/NATO defense axis.
Meanwhile, countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates, are considered to be 'playing' on two legs by Washington, namely by also cooperating with China as a defense cooperation partner, including the use of defense equipment which is partly supplied from the Bamboo Curtain country.
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