Defense minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan says the Navy’s plan to purchase a Chinese submarine is okay and appropriate.
Comment by Gen Prawit, also deputy prime minister in charge of security came after critics questioned the efficiency of the 12 billion baht Chinese submarine and whether the Navy was pressured to buy the Chinese weapon.
Gen Prawit said the Navy’s submarine procurement project has been considered and screened carefully by its scrutiny committee.
He said the project was enlisted in the 2017 national expenditure budget but it still needed to get approval from the cabinet.
He said the Navy had planned to procure a submarine for use for a long time, and had been approved by the majority of all committees scrutinising the project.
He added the Chinese submarine is appropriate both in terms of price and efficiency under the limited budget allocated for Navy which might not afford to buy higher price submarine from other country.
