SHAH ALAM: The Royal Thai Navy (RTN) has taken delivery of its first China-made Type 071 LPD on April 9. The delivery was held at Hudong Zhonghua Shipyard in Shanghai, Thai media reported. HTMS Chang – once commissioned into RTN – is expected to arrive in Thailand on April 27.
Thailand signed a contract with China for the procurement of a Type 071E LPD on September 9, 2019, according to Naval News. The amphibious vessel, built by China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) is based on the Type 071 of the PLAN. The deal was reported to cost only US$200 million, Naval News has reported.
Naval News also reported that the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) currently has eight vessels of the Type 071 class commissioned in its fleet. Thailand is the first export customer of the class. Originally designed after the 1996 Taiwan Strait crisis, Type 071 is 210 meters long and 28 meters wide. It can carry 800 marines (1 battalion) and some 20 amphibious vehicles.
It must be noted that CSSC had also marketed the same ship to Malaysia to meet the MRSS requirement of the RMN. The company took part in LIMA 2017 to promote the ship. Two years later, however, Malaysia signed the contract for the purchase of four LMS instead. The MRSS requirement has yet to be fulfilled and it remained unclear when it will be funded.
— Malaysian Defence
View Comments (35)
My question is: why would they need the capacity to transport 1 full battalion to ….where? I get they get bad floods in the south during monsoon, but this is big ship is overkill to me. A bit like the Thaitanic..
They got a carrier before so a LPD is not much a bigger deal
the new LPD at 22,000 tons is 2x the displacement of the Cakri Naruebet aircraft carrier.
US$200 million, for a 210m long, 22,000 ton ship is so cheap. That LPD is so big that you could probably park 2 of the chinese built 68m, 700 ton LMS on its helicopter deck.
Tom Tom - ''My question is:''
The only RTN base which can accommodate it will be Sattahip where the Cakri Naruebet is also homeported. The question is why the need such a platform with that displacement but then why did they get the Cakri Naruebet? Also, the RMN's MPSS is also intended to have the capacity to lift a battalion.
... - ''22,000 ton ship is so cheap''
It may be ''cheap'' on paper but we don't know the fit out; DC standards and various other things...
Mr Marhalim.. How progress RMN MRSS program?? Any good news on it during LIMA'23??
"The question is why the need such a platform with that displacement"
The official line is that they need a large ship for HADR in the event of something like the boxing day tsunami, or the big bangkok floods happening.
To be honest, I don't see a need for such a big LPD for the Thai navy. Their army can reach 99% of their territory by land. If I am planning for the Thai navy, I would plan for an equal strength of fleet in the andaman sea and the gulf of thailand, with ASW resources concentrated in the andaman sea due to the increasing proliferation of submarines there.
As a major non-NATO ally, the thais buys so much of chinese hardware.
But they currently does not have major critical maritime security issues. The royal thai navy mainly uses Malaysia as their boogeymen when justifying major buys.
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3101884/deter-malaysia-thailands-navy-wants-chinese-submarines-both
Hulubalang "US$200 million, for a 210m long, 22,000 ton ship is so cheap."
Not that cheap. From some publications it seem the Juan Carlos 1 can be had for US$250 million for a non customized, specialized, non pimp my ride, absolutely off the shelf like the Thai seem to did with type 071.
A tad too big for our needs, so move along everyone. Nothing to see here.
@ darthzaft,
Last I checked the Juan Carlos 1 costs €462 million, with the Aussie Canberra version at AUD1.55 billion each.
So where did you get the 250 million number from?