Airship: Thailand

Thai army’s flying white elephant?

5 February 2010

MyPaper

ALREADY beleaguered over a bomb detector that detractors say is useless, the Thai army is now being forced to defend a newly-purchased, 350 million-baht (S$15-million) airship intended to boost security measures in the south.

The Sky Dragon is being assailed as ineffective, given local conditions, missing “key devices” and handicapped by a likely inability to spot militants.

The senior officer in charge, Lieutenant-General Kasikorn Kheereesri, denied reports that the airship, procured last year from United States-based Aria International, was being sidelined due to safety concerns.

However, criticism has been widespread over its alleged unsuitability for the anti-insurgency work in the south.

Moreover, its support needs are substantial: a back-up system requiring a helicopter, land vehicle, ground-command station and 55 officers.

The officer said no order had come grounding the airship, as has been speculated.

Instead, high-powered zoom cameras were being installed in preparation for a number of tests, including a possible flight to check engines and wireless signal connections between the cameras and ground control.

Mr Worrawit Basu, a senator serving on the Senate committee on the military, said he had heard the airship was not fully operational because it still lacked certain key devices. The US had prohibited their handover to the army, he said.

He said no evaluation had been undertaken to determine whether other devices could be substituted, and he questioned the financial wisdom of buying another airship, as has been mooted.

“Seven hundred million baht (the cost for two) is a lot of money. To build a prolonged peace process, there should be other and better ways to do it on such a large budget,” Mr Worrawit added.

Mr Srisomphob Jitphiromsri, a lecturer at Prince Songkla University, Pattani Campus, questioned the military value of airships in an insurgency like that in the deep south.

He said a single airship designed as an airborne-surveillance platform would be useless in offensive operations, because more airships would be needed to ensure its maximum combat efficiency.

He said the public would liken the airship project to the GT200 bomb detector controversy if it proved ineffective.

“If the number of attacks or ambushes are not reduced, it would raise questions over whether alternatives or human measures would be more cost- effective and productive in winning over locals, instead of an airship we paid 350 million baht for,” he added.

The Thai army now admits the GT200 detector gives inconsistent results. The chief executive of its manufacturer was arrested in Britain on charges that he sold to US forces in Iraq a similar device that flopped and cost lives.

Thai army chief Anupong Paochinda has visited the south to observe the airship in action. His reaction is unknown.

A source with the airship’s operational support team pondered its combat efficiency, saying the local landscapes comprised thick bushes and trees, unlike deserts in Iraq or Afghanistan, where the US military used airships effectively in fighting off insurgents.

“The local insurgents in the south employ ambushes and hit-and-run attacks against targets, and they do not converge in large groups long enough to be seen by a wandering airship,” he said.

He added that the airship had bumped the ground during a recent landing, without damaging its airframe or engines. “The incident may have led to fresh criticism,” he said.

The airship is 10.61m wide and 47.35m long. It can travel at 88kmh with a cruising speed of 55kmh, with an operational range of 560km. It can fly up to 3,048m in the air.