Rough Road for Thailand’s BTR-3 APC Purchase

BTR-3(click to view full) Thai Defence Minister Boonrawd Somthas recently suspended a controversial arms deal announced in mid-August 2007 between Thailand and Ukraine, bringing the purchase of 96 BTR-3E1 wheeled armored personnel carriers (APCs) for Bt4 billion (about $117.6 million) to a halt. The BTR-3E1 amphibious armored personnel carriers had beaten APC contenders from China, Russia, and Canada to win the Thai order, and a recent request from Iraq would make 9 customer countries if the Thai order goes through. BTR-3s are built by an international consortium led by the United Arab Emirates’ ADCOM MANUFACTURING Company Ltd. WLL, in partnership with Ukrainian firms Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau, and the State Scientific Technical Centre of Artillery & Rifle Arms. Jane’s describes the BTR-3 as: “a more recent design [than the BTR-80] with a raised roof for greater internal volume… powered by a locally developed UTD-20 diesel coupled to a manual transmission. Armament consists of the Shturm combat module armed with a locally produced 30mm ZTM-1 cannon, 40mm automatic grenade launcher, 7.62mm machine gun and twin launcher for Barrier ATGW with a maximum range of 5,500m. The vehicle is fully amphibious, being propelled in the water at a speed of […]