Official confirmation of Hanwha Ocean as the preferred supplier for a new frigate for the Royal Thai Navy (RTN) is expected to come at the end of this week.
It was recently announced that the RTN had picked Hanwha’s Ocean-40F platform as its favoured design. The 124-metre, 4,000-ton warship is a larger, evolved version of the HTMS Bhumibol Adulyadej which it supplied to the RTN in 2018. It has a crew of about 145, and is capable of up to 28 knots.
In securing the 16.73 billion baht (£370m) contract for the new warship, Hanwha Ocean saw off competition from the likes of Hyundai Heavy Industries, Navantia, and various Turkish shipbuilders.
As is the usual procurement procedure in Thailand, the RTN is scheduled to hold a detailed briefing on the selection on Friday, once the legally prescribed appeal period has ended.
As per RTN spokesman Rear Admiral Parach Rattanachaiphan, the project’s guiding principle had been not just that “the Navy gets a ship,” but also “the country must benefit alongside it.”
A Hanwha Ocean press statement noted: “Hanwha Ocean plans to proceed with detailed negotiations with the Royal Thai Navy, and the final contract terms will be determined based on the negotiation results.
“With this selection as the preferred bidder, Hanwha Ocean intends to strengthen the foundation for long-term maritime defense cooperation with Thailand while continuously expanding business opportunities in the global surface vessel market, including Southeast Asia.”
It said close ties between the RTN and South Korea, including active support from the ROK government and its military — including the Ministry of National Defense, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, and the Republic of Korea Navy — also played a key role in the selection process.
It’s understood that Thailand is seeking to acquire up to eight new frigates by 2037, each procured by a separate procedure to dovetail with budgetary requirements. The total programme value could exceed an estimated 98 trillion baht (£2.2 billion).
- You can read more details on the Hanwha Ocean website
