At a press conference at the Swedish Embassy in Bangkok, Lars Danielsson, Deputy Minister to the Swedish Prime Minister, informed that the proposal given to the Thai Government in November by the Swedish government concerned the purchase of 12 JAS-39 C/D Gripen fighter aircrafts, two Airborne Early Warning System (AEW) mounted on SAAB 340 aircraft and another SAAB 340 made for air/ground crew training purposes.
Lars Danielsson was clearly proud of the Swedish proposal.
“This proposal is suited exactly to the needs of the Thai Royal Air Force. The proposal represents the cutting edge technology of today and also for the future. When you modernise you expect it to last for 30 – 40 years and these systems are developed in a way that they can be changed continuously. For years to come the systems will be upgraded,” Lars Danielsson says.
Should the Thai government choose the Swedish proposal, not a single Baht or Swedish Krona will be paid. In an effort to spare the trade balance, in 2004 Prime Minister Thaksin suggested a barter notion meaning that in stead of money the Thai government will provide products like rice, chicken and seafood in exchange for the fighter aircrafts.
Sweden has accepted the barter notion and according to the Swedish barter model the entire world will be approached in order to sell the products.Not only Sweden has accepted the barter notion. Also Russia and USA have agreed to the conditions trying to sell their aircrafts. Asked what advantage the Swedish proposal has over the others Lars Danielsson says:
“I am not in the business of comparison. I can only say that the most modern equipment in the airspace area is used in our proposal and that the Gripen has already proven it’s worth through it’s merits.”Today the Gripen is delivered to air forces of Sweden, South African and the Czech Republic and soon the Hungarian Air Force will follow. The price of the Swedish proposal has not been made public.
