The Royal Thai Air Force yesterday defended its procurement of 50-million-baht guidance-extended range kits from South Korea, saying the purchase complies with regulations.
AVM Prapas Sornchaidee, the RTAF’s spokesman, said the kits will be used with 500-pound air-dropped bombs to enhance the air force’s long-range air strike capacity, which is a part of the air force’s country defence preparation plan.
AVM Prapas was responding to remarks made on Monday by Tanadej Pengsuk, a Move Forward Party (MFP) MP-elect who accused the air force of failing to seek certification from South Korea to ensure the kits are compatible with the RTAF’s aircraft.
Mr Tanadej said he had studied a copy of the procurement documentation and found an irregularity which he believed showed that the procurement of the kits served nothing but a desire to spend taxpayers’ money.
Mr Tanadej said he’d learnt that funds had been diverted from a number of projects which are more necessary than the purchase of “these unnecessary kits”.
AVM Prapas insisted the purchased kits, which are still pending a pre-delivery inspection, are compatible with the RTAF’s F-16, F-5 and T-50 aircraft.
The procurement project is suitable for the country’s budgetary situation and is fully in line with the government’s country development policy, he said.
But Mr Tanadej said the procurement would become another controversy, similar to a previous project to develop a Napa application costing 40 million baht.
The air force has failed to clarify the app’s purpose, he said, adding that it had only responded to questions raised over the costly application by saying the purpose of developing the app was strictly confidential.
The app must be completely secret as no air force staff has ever used it, or the costly app is actually useless, Mr Tanadej added.