Thailand Selects Gripen E/F

On August 27, 2004, Thailand officially announced that it had selected the Swedish multirole combat aircraft in preference to the F-16 Block 70/72 to upgrade the Kong Thap Akat Thai’s (Royal Thai Air Force, RTAF) fighter force. It confirms rumours that surfaced in July that the latest iteration of the Gripen family had been chosen to replace the F-16A/B Block 15 ADFs previously flown by one of two squadrons assigned to the 1st RTAF Wing, based at Korat Royal Thai Air Force Base (RTAFB). No. 102 Squadron disbanded in September 2021, transferring some of its ADFs to the Block 15OCU-equipped 103 Squadron, although most of the subvariant were withdrawn. The decision to proceed with the Gripen was only taken on August 20, however, after both Saab and Lockheed Martin submitted additional, final information about their proposed offers to the air force’s Design Selection Committee.

Thailand’s programme to acquire a new combat aircraft was launched in January 2022, with deliveries originally expected to start the following year, but it was delayed. The RTAF specified an aircraft that had commonality with those it already …