I believe that the Thais are budgeting 4.99 billion baht for 1 submarine (as per the Bangkok Post article), which KL Security Review speculated to be a purchase of a 039 Song submarine. The online translation tool used is not entirely accurate as there was some flowery Chinese language use in the article that does not translate well (especially pertaining to the prior May 1996 Thai plans, which was abandoned).OPSSG..USD 500 mio for 3 subs..?? If this come through right...will the Thai's willing to accept Mings...??? Or 500 mio will be enough to bought 3 - 4 Song's...??
Except with Egypt in the 80's..I don't think China have been able to sold their subs anywhere else (off course North Korea can't be counted)..
Even we, with limited budget's realistically will have to prepared at least USD 700 mio to get a pair of modern up dated and competitive (technologically) subs..
BTW, I meant to say:
A possible first Chinese submarine sale to an ASEAN country?
And the prior post has been amended accordingly. For some strange reason, I tend to forget about the Chinese version of the Romeo Class submarines in service with Egypt and N. Korea. And since the Egyptian Romeos were upgraded by Lockheed Martin in 1996. I tend not to think of the Egyptian Romeos as purely Chinese made anymore.
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