Кстати вот еще интересно Сами же Таиландцы на их же форуме размышляют

http://matrix.bangkokpost.co.th/foru...35#Message1759


The decision of purchasing military equipments for the Thai military forces should not be left for the politicians alone. The military decision makers and ranks-and-files should have input. To manage price tags and cost of maintenances, Thai military forces will have to acquire multi-roles and multi-branches operations for these hardwares. The Mi-17 helicopter multi-roles would fit many needs for the Royal Thai Army and other Thai military branches. Four Mi-17 helicopters would not be enough to serve in all the branches; the Thai Army would have immediate need for the helicopter ASAP. As for the SU-30, it seemed unfit for our needs. Russia has other small and less expensive jetfighter models. The F-18 multi-roles jetfighter would seem to serve our need if we are going to purchase US made jetfighter. The F-18 would be abled to serve both Royal Thai Airforce and Navy. For the quantity and price, Russia Sukhoi fighters like Su-30 would be more expensive than the US made F-16 fighter. If the Thai Airforce is willing to continue with their fleet of F-16 variant versions with the addition of newer F-16 model, then the cost would be much less than the new fleet of Su-30 fighters. The cost of F-18 variant fighter is almost twice the cost of F-16 variants, but the Su-30 is a little less than F-18. The twin engine design and growth potential for the F-18 is much more than that of the F-16. The F-18 is capable of landing on the current Royal Thai Navy's single aircraft carrier. If the Thai Military forces are willing to spend more money for the high price tag items, than they should consider the variants of Su-30 or F-18. Secondly, we should also consider other economic impacts from this transaction like technology transfer. As Russia has offered four Mi-17 helicopters for this deal and spare part factory for Russian equipments sold to SEA nations. I would think that Thai-Russia partnership should set up a factory for assembly some components of the Su-30 fighters also; this factory can in the future be converted to the spare part manufacturing for Russia made military equipments. Now, what would the US companies will offer Thailand if we are going to purchase their US made F-18 or F-16 fighters.?