On Sept. 8, Royal Thai Navy announced the winner of the bid for purchasing the first phase of amphibious assault vehicle ZTD 05A from Norinco, China.
Norico offering 3 vehicles for 398 million baht (equivalent to about 12.7 million USD), or 132 million baht per vehicle, which the Chinese has reduced the price to according to a limited number of Navy.
The vehicles will be delivered approximately one year after the contract is signed. The objective is to increase the firepower of the Marine Corps in land offensive operations.
VN 16s will be stationed on the Type 071 landing ship, ordered from China as well. ZTD 05A or export version called VN 16 is classified as an amphibious light tank. It weighs approximately 26.5 tons, is equipped with a 105 mm tank cannon. The armor is made of aluminum alloy. It has a road speed of 65 km/h and a speed of 25 km/h in water, which is the highlight of this light tank.
The supply of this ZTD 05A amphibious light tank is like as a replacement for the Type 69-II tank that the Marines used to have and is currently retired.
The Royal Thai Navy has also seen the performance and capabilities of this light tank during the Blue Strike maneuvers in 2016, which Chinese Marines took part in this exercise, including the ZBD 05 (VN 18), this is a 30 mm automatic machine gun carrier version.
Purchasing of VN-16 will be the first lot, and additional procurement will be made in the coming years.