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The Gri ens

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The Gri ens guarding t e Gulf Thailand may be famous for its tropical beauty and stunning beaches, but something in the air also makes it unique, as Analayo Korsakul reports RTAF Grlpen and Saab 340 AEW flying together over the Gun of Thailand All i mages by Hiranphan Sukasom unless stated ---• or a decade now, the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF - Kong T ab Arkard Thai) has been operating Asia's only fleets of Saab JAS-39 Gripen fighters and Saab 340 AEW (airborne early warni ng) aircraft. Both serve Wing 7 at Surat Thani located near the Gulf of Thail and and are tasked with safeguarding sovereign air space across Southern Thailand, close to the South China Sea and Andaman Sea, as well as the entrance point to the Strait of Malacca. This maritime region is among BELOW: RTAF Gripen, Saab 340 and Saab 340 AEW during a Wing 7 combat-ready ceremony in 2013
Transcript

The Gri ens guarding t e Gulf Thailand may be famous for its tropical beauty and stunning beaches, but something in the air also makes it unique, as Analayo Korsakul reports

RTAF Grlpen and Saab 340 AEW flying together over the

Gun of Thailand All images by Hiranphan Sukasom unless stated

---• or a decade now, the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF - Kong Tab Arkard Thai) has been operating Asia's only fleets of Saab JAS-39 Gripen fighters and Saab 340 AEW (airborne early warning) aircraft.

Both serve Wing 7 at Surat Thani located near the Gulf of Thailand and are tasked with safeguarding sovereign air space across Southern Thailand, close to the South China Sea and Andaman Sea, as well as the entrance point to the Strait of Malacca. This maritime region is among

BELOW: RTAF Gripen, Saab 340 and Saab 340 AEW during a Wing 7 combat-ready ceremony in 2013

the biggest choke points in the world. The Strait of Malacca, a narrow 2.8km-wide sea lane connecting the Pacific and Indian Oceans, is a gateway between the East and the West and accounts for a quarter of global trade. It means Wing 7 is never short of work.

Maritime capability One of the crucial factors that saw the Gripen being selected is its maritime domain capability. As well as the 12 examples ordered in 2008, the Swedish Air Force transferred 12 older RBS-15F anti-shipping missiles to the RTAF until the more modern Mk.3 model was available. It marks the first time the RTAF has had a real maritime strike capability, something it has longed for since the F/A-18D order was cancelled during the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The Gripen works closely with the

Saab 340 AEW in this role. The RTAF also agreed an operational framework alongside the Royal Thai Navy (RTN) to co-ordinate operationally during any conflict. It ensures RTN frigates and helicopter carriers can act as a fighter controller to direct Gripens to the maritime target. The RTAF has also ordered the upgrade

of its air command and control system from Saab, enabling radars and sensors from both service branches to be integrated via the 'Link-T' national tactical datalink. This was developed from Saab's technology transfer package, to create a common operational picture. Besides the fancy anti-ship missiles,

not much has been done to step up the ground attack capability. The Gripen, which is equipped with a Litening targeting pod, still uses unguided 5001b Mk 82 and 2,0001b Mk 84 bombs as well as the laser-guided 5001b GBU-12 Paveway II. There was a talk of acquiring the GBU-31 JDAM and GBLJ-3g Small

RIGHT: This RTAF Gripen pilot wears a Saab/BAE Systems Cobra Helmet Mounted Display System as a standard unit. The Cobra is integrated with IRIS-T to

maximise the missile's capability

For the anti-shipping role, the RTAF Gripens are armed with the RBS-15F, as seen here

This Saab 340 transport 70202 was later configured into a ELINT/ECM aircraft along with a second example, 70207 Analayo Korsakul

Diameter Bombs, but nothing has materialised yet. As for the threat in the sky, the Gripen's

main weapon of choice is the AIM-120C for its beyond-visual-range operation. The IRIS-T has replaced the AIM-9M Sidewinder as the primary within-visual-

range missile in the RTAF as the service has acquired the rights to code and integrate the missile on its chosen. The RTAF's newly upgraded F-5s have

also been adapted to operate with the IRIS-T. Meanwhile, the superior MBDA Meteor BVRAAM (beyond visual range ID

w

No 701 Sqn 'Shark' is now operating seven single-seat Gripen Cs. One was lost in a fatal accident but the unit expects to bolster the number back to eight in 2023

air-to-air missile) is now being considered as a future option. For a more capable missile, upgrade work has to be done. A recent 2020 RTAF white paper called for the Gripens to be upgraded with the new MS-20 (Mission System) during 2020/21. With it will come CBRN (chemical, biological radiological and nuclear) protection, datalink for close air support, new software for the PS/05 radar, small diameter bombs (SDBs) and Meteor support. One of the features the RTAF will benefit

from is the automatic ground collision avoidance system (AGGAS) - the RTAF lost one Gripen and its pilot during an aerial display during a 2017 Children's Day open house show (organised nationwide every second Saturday of January). Later investigations confirmed that the pilot had suffered from vertigo. If the AGGAS

Surat Thani Province The world knows Surat Thani Province for the beauty of Koh Samui island and the famous full moon parties at Koh Phangan. Located 650km south of Bangkok, the province is one of the economic centres of southern Thailand.

However, most holidaymakers are unaware that Surat Thani also hosts the only fighter wing in the south, at Wing 7, not far from its famous beaches. Unsurprisingly, when the Swedish Air Force asked if any of its pilots and technicians were interested in being stationed at SuratThani, there was an unusually high number of applicants. The air base also acts as one of the back­

up air command and control centres for the RTAF, and fulfilled precisely that role during the 2011 flood in Thailand that destroyed all the air command and control systems

in Bangkok. Surat Thani International Airport shares

a runway with Wing 7, so if you are lucky enough to visit, don't forget to glance over to the other side of the runway for a chance to see the Gripens and Saab 340.

feature had existed, this tragic accident could have been avoided. The remaining 11 aircraft continue to

soldier on with 701 Sqn 'Shark' which celebrated 10,000 hours of Gripen

operations in October 2019. This is a remarkable milestone, given that the initial delivery of six Gripens was eight years earlier, in February 2011 , under the Peace Suvarnabhumi programme. A second

ABOVE: Puttapong 'Cotto' Polchiwin (left) and Charoen 'Tonic' Wattanasrimonkol (right), seen here in 2014, were two of the original four Gripen pilot-instructors of the RTAF, and are now group captains. 'Cotto' is Wing 7 Commander, while 'Tonic' is Wing 1 Commander

BELOW: A Gripen Con patrol over the Gulf of Thailand fitted with IRIS-Ts on the wing rails for within-visual­range combat, and two AIM-120C AMRAAMs for beyond visual range Analayo Korsakul

batch of six Gripens came in 2013 and the squadron was declared combat ready later that year. The RTAF has invested heavily into its

maintenance capability. Aside from 13 pilots at the inception, 60 Thai technicians studied and completed on-the-job training with the Swedish Air Force. They came back to form a linchpin maintenance team that, in some demanding situations, can ensure all aircraft are combat ready.

In November the team was involved in a capability demonstration that came in the form of an 'elephant walk' by all 11 Gripens and one Saab 340 AEW lining up for a mission during a national defence exercise. The standard scenario has two Gripens sitting ready for the ORA (quick reaction alert), while the other nine perform a variety of air, ground and maritime strike missions simultaneously.

'Shark' and 'Orea' What makes 701 Sqn 'Shark' and its Gripens so special is that they work as a team with the two Saab 340 AEWs and six Saab 340s transport/ELINT aircraft of 702 Sqn 'Orea'. This is one of only two airborne early warning squadrons in South East Asia, the other being the Republic of Singapore Air Force's 111 Sqn operating the Gulfstream G550 AEW&C. The Saab 340's airborne early warning

capability is provided by its Erieye radar. Together they act as a flying radar within the Thai air defence network, and therefore are not AEW&C aircraft. But this should come in 2021, when the RTAF upgrades its Saab 340 AEWs with an air command and control capability to the radar. This will help stretch operational range beyond the air defence network coverage, acting as a 'quarterback' for Gripen and RTN warships by providing greater situation awareness well beyond the shore. That will supplement the electronic warfare and signal intelligence

A pair of Gripen patrol over an oil rig in the Gulf of Thailand. No 701 Sqn is the only RTAF unit with a maritime strike capability

capabil ity installed in two of the six 340s. The RTAF bought second-hand Saab

340s and hired the team from a local company, R V Connex, to design and install the EW/SIGINT equipment. This new capability benefited from the technology transfer package from Saab. The other two 340s are used for the training and transport role.

Since this is the continent's only Gripen fleet, examples frequently take part in various exercises and airshows in Malaysia and Singapore. Each year, they participate w ith the USAF, US Navy and Republic of Singapore Air Force in Exercise Cope Tiger and Cobra Gold, and every two years with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and various air forces during Exercise Pitch Black in Australia. The Gripens also took part in the

secretive Exercise Falcon Strike, with the PLAAF (People's Liberation Army Air Force) to face China's leading fighter. The results were impressive! Information later emerged from Falcon

Strike 2015 that the J-11 did a very good job during within-visual-range training (16 Gripens downed against the J-11's zero losses); the Gripen also performed much better in the beyond-visual-range environment. It swept away 19 J-11s at a

cost of only three Gripens, thanks to the Thai pilot's superior situational awareness, better electronic warfare capabilities and datalink. That trend continued throughout the exercise. It was a wake-up call for the PLAAF to overhaul its training syllabus, and it then decided to send more advanced J-1 0A/Cs to the subsequent exercises in 2017 and 2019. The RTAF plans to procure an additional Gripen C in 2023 to replace the one that had been lost - if the aircraft is still available on the production line. The Lockheed Martin F-1 6ADFs serving 102 Sqn and the F-16A/ Bs with 103 Sqn are ageing - their replacement programmes are aimed to start in 2023 and 2028, respectively. Both the F-16V and Gripen E/F will be strong favourites although if the price of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II comes down, the situation could become more complicated. High budgetary estimates for the MS20

upgrade suggest the RTAF may procure a new weapon system, along with the upgrade package that could be adequate for at least another 10-15 years. In which case, the sunny skies and blue seas of Thailand will continue to be protected by the 'Shark' and 'Orea' at the ocean gateway, where East meets West. Al

BELOW: The 'elephant walk' of Wing 7 comprises all 11 Gripens from 701 Sqn and one Saab 340 AEW from 702 Sqn, as seen here during a national defence exercise in November 2020 Wing 71 via Analayo Korsakul


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