The U.S. State Department has approved a government-to-government Foreign Military Sales (FMS) request by Thailand for 60 Stryker infantry carrier vehicles (ICVs). The necessary certification of the proposed sale was delivered to Congress by the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) on July 26. The DSCA noted that the procurement – including equipment such as M2 Flex .50-caliber machine guns and spare parts – comes with an estimated price tag of $175 million.
.@StateDept authorizes a proposed Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to #Thailand for Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicles worth $175 million @StateDeptPM @USAsiaPacific #FMSUpdate–https://t.co/29bNBJGRUN
— Political-Military Affairs, US Dept of State (@StateDeptPM) July 26, 2019
The Royal Thai Army is in the midst of revamping its armored infantry-carrying vehicle inventory. The Army aims to phase out all of its aging M113 and Textron LAV-150 armored personnel carriers in the near future and has eyed the M1126 Stryker 8×8 ICV as an alternative. The bid for the General Dynamics Land Systems Stryker would sustain the pipeline of U.S.-sourced military vehicles to the Royal Thai Army at a time when the service has begun absorbing Chinese-based armored vehicle and tank solutions such as the VN-1 8×8 wheeled APCs from China North Industries Corporation (NORINCO) and the VT-4 (export version of China’s MBT3000) based on the Soviet-legacy T-72 tank design.
Dan Darling is Forecast International’s director of military and defense markets. In this role, Dan oversees a team of analysts tasked with covering everything from budgeting to weapons systems to defense electronics and military aerospace. Additionally, for over 17 years Dan has, at various times, authored the International Military Markets reports for Europe, Eurasia, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.
Dan's work has been cited in Defense News, Real Clear Defense, Asian Military Review, Al Jazeera, and Financial Express, among others, and he has also contributed commentary to The Diplomat, The National Interest and World Politics Review. He has been quoted in Arabian Business, the Financial Times, Flight International, The New York Times, Bloomberg and National Defense Magazine.
In addition, Dan has made guest appearances on the online radio show Midrats and on The Media Line, as well as The Red Line Podcast, plus media appearances on France 24 and World Is One News (WION).
