Airship in deep South and ready for action in mid-January
By Sumeth Parnpeth, Abdullah Whangni
The Thai army’s 350 million baht surveillance airship has arrived in Pattani province and is expected to start operational in the middle of next month.
The airship which was bought from US-based Aria International Incorperated is now housed at a hangar in Pattani and is now undergoing installation of military-grade imaging and communications systems, including high-definition security cameras capable of night photographing.
Army Commander-in-Chief General Anupong Paochinda personally flew into Pattani on December 18 to witness the arrival of the airship to be deployed in the war against southern insurgency which, in the past six years, has claimed more than 3,800 lives among government officials, insurgents and civilians.
A team of 55 officers, including 14 commissioned officers and the rest non-commissioned officers, have been assigned to operate the manned airship. The work is divided into four areas: command operations which is made up of four officers; 20 officers for air operations; 17 for ground operations and 14 for support operations. The team is tasked to plan, direct, coordinate and support news gathering and suppression operations against the insurgency.
Besides the airship, there will be three HU-1H helicopters, each based in Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani, to support the airship’s surveillance operations. The helicopters will also be equipped with military-grade surveillance cameras. Also, there will be 26 fixed command posts scattering in the three provinces.
On the ground, there is a state-of-the-art mobile command and control vehicle, 22-tonnes Glizzly, to support the operations of the airship.
The Aeros 40D S/N 21 (Sky Dragon) airship is manufactured by Worldwide Aeros Corp of the United States. It is 10.61 metres wide, 47.35 metres long and 13.35 metres in height. It is capable of flying up to 10,000 feet in altitude and can travel at a maximum speed of 88 km/hour with 55 km/hour cruising speed. Its operational range is 560 km.
An official ceremony to take delivery of the manned airship is scheduled on January 15 after which it will be deployed for action in the deep South against the insurgents.