Royal Thai Marine Corps
The
Royal Thai Marine Corps is organized into two
regiments composed of one artillery battalion, six infantry
battalions, and one amphibious assault battalion; a light tank
battalion was also proposed.
The Royal Thai Marine Corps, which currently consists of two divisions, including an amphibious assault battalion, has an establishment strength of 25,000. The current complement of only 20,000 has as its principal concern to better develop its amphibious assault capability. The Marine Corps is headquartered at Camp Samaesan, within the Sattahip Naval Base. Its other major base is at Narathiwat and a third facility is situated at Trat. The Marine Police acts as a coast guard in inshore waters. It has 62 armed patrol craft and another 63 boats equipped only with small arms.
A combined amphibious landing force exercise (CALFEX) is part of Cobra Gold. The CALFEX is the highlight of 14 days of training between the U.S. and Royal Thai Navies and Marine Corps. Cobra Gold is a joint/combined exercise and is the latest in a continuing series of U.S.-Thai military exercises designed to ensure regional peace and strengthen the ability of the Royal Thai armed forces to respond to regional contingencies.
ASCOD light tank
The Royal Thai Marine Corps selected the ASCOD light tank for its requirements in October 1999 and placed an order with Austria's Steyr-Daimler-Puch for 15 vehicles, one command post vehicle and one repair and recovery vehicle.
Reportedly, other contractors to have been competing for this requirement include the US companies Textron Marine & Land Systems with the latest Stingray II and United Defense LP with the M8 Armored Gun System, both armed with a 105 mm rifled gun. The Royal Thai Army already operates 106 of the earlier Stingray I light tank.
The ASCOD light tank is essentially a modified ASCOD tracked infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) chassis fitted with a South African LIW LT 105 three-person turret armed with a 105 mm rifled gun firing standard NATO ammunition and a 7.62 mm co-axial machine gun. It includes a computerized fire-control system and day/night sights for the commander and gunner.
The ASCOD IFV is already in production by Santa Barbara in Spain under the local name of Pizarro and has recently been ordered by Austria under the local name of Ulan with production undertaken by Steyr-Daimler-Puch.
