KAI concludes a third deal with Royal Thai Air Force, worthy of approx. US$52M
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) announced on 24th that the company concluded a deal, worthy of approximately US $52million with the Royal Thai Air Force.
The deal is an Upgrade & Modification program which aims to equip the T-50 TH Jet trainers which RTAF operates with radars and the RWR, CMDS. The contract includes such follow-up and support as training, repairing parts and support equipment. The final delivery is slated for October 2021.
The signing ceremony held at Lotte Hotel, Seoul, including Kim Jo-won, president & CEO of KAI and Bhanupong Seyayongka Air Chief Marshal of RTAF.
The RTAF expects that the third contract could raise the performance of its T-50TH and further, will keep a high operation rate via the smooth operation of the aircrafts.
The Thai government had purchased 4 of T-50 in 2015 and on August 2017, it made the second deal for purchasing 8 more. The 4 aircrafts under the first contract have been entered the service for training since March, last year. And 8 units which the RTAF additionally purchased will be delivered by 2020, starting from late this year.
The T-50 variants are currently under operation in Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. And the aircraft have potentials to be utilized for advanced training and light attack capabilities, boasting its efficiency
Based on such strengths, KAI is actively making efforts to export the T-50 model to Malaysia, Argentina and others. Also, in order to meet the diverse needs of customer, the company seeks out improvement of performance, including enlargement capacity of armament and flight range.
