PUBLISHED : 22 Aug 2023 at 04:00
CHON BURI: The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) yesterday opened a naval mission training centre in Sattahip district focused on advanced simulation training.
Navy Chief Adm Choengchai Chomchoengpaet said the training centre is part of the Royal Thai Fleet, which was established to train crews to be familiar with foreign ports.
He said the RTN will arrange training programmes for about 2,500 personnel annually, which include at least 40 curriculums that cover working with all of the RTN’s ships.
The simulation training will also help the RTN save on some of its training costs as physical training, especially training with the fleet, is expensive and more open to mishaps occurring.
Adm Choengchai said that the RTN has had to decrease physical training hours due to budget constraints.
The training centre has four simulators that can work in unison like an actual naval vessel.
The simulators include a ship handling simulator, which imitates the nature of all the RTN’s frigates; a combat information centre trainer; a ship engines simulator; and a damage control trainer.
The Defence Ministry approved a budget in March 2021 for the training simulators that were built by the German company Rheinmetall Electronics GmbH. The simulators were delivered to Thailand on Aug 4. The training centre programme will include various situations and incidents, including the sinking of HTMS Sukhothai in Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Bang Saphan district on Dec 18 last year, to prepare crews for what could happen at sea, said Adm Choengchai.