The Thai Cabinet approved today a Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) proposal to purchase four Gripen JAS 39 fighter jets from Sweden, at an estimated cost of 19.5 billion baht.
Earlier, RTAF Commander-in-Chief Air Chief Marshal Punpakdee Pattanakul said that they plan to procure a dozen of these jets over a 10-year period, with the first procurement phase being from 2025 to 2029.
The Swedish-made Saab Gripen aircraft will replace the ageing US-made F-5s and F-16s, some of which have been in service since the late 1980s.
Currently, the RTAF has eleven JAS 39s in service, some of which went into combat for the first time during the July 24th to 28th battle between Thai and Cambodia.
