Russia, Thailand Sealed $200Mln Worth Of Defense Deals Over Several Years - Ambassador

Russia, Thailand Sealed $200Mln Worth of Defense Deals Over Several Years - Ambassador

Tight military cooperation between Russia and Thailand has yielded $200 million worth of defense industry contracts, the Russian ambassador to the Southeast Asian monarchy said in Bangkok on Friday

BANGKOK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th December, 2019) Tight military cooperation between Russia and Thailand has yielded $200 million worth of defense industry contracts, the Russian ambassador to the Southeast Asian monarchy said in Bangkok on Friday.

"Our countries have made progress in the defense industry cooperation, having signed various contracts in this sphere in recent years to the tune of over $200 million," Evgeny Tomikhin told reporters.

The Thai army has a fleet of seven military transport Mi-17B5 helicopters, while the Interior Ministry's emergencies unit has two Ka-32 heavy-lift choppers. The Thai air force has three Sukhoi Superjets in its service.

Russia expects a helicopter maintenance center to become operational in Thailand in 2021. Russian Helicopters and Thailand's Datagate are working together to provide services both to Thailand and nearby countries that use Russian rotorcraft.

Tomikhin called Thailand a lucrative market that such technical giants as China and the United States were seeking to get a foothold in. But he said Russia had many important arms buyers in the country who were interested in getting more of what it had to offer.