Airship track record faces check

Army chief Gen Chalermchai Sitthisad has ordered an examination be carried out of the performance records over the last eight years of a 100-million-baht airship that malfunctioned, leaked, ran up expensive bills and was rarely used before being decommissioned this month.

However, he defended the budget spent on the blimp despite growing criticism the project was a white elephant that produced few tangible results.

Gen Chalermchai said records of usage were kept every time the airship went on operations.

He said it was used frequently in the first few years, sometimes as many as 30 times a year.

It was worth the cost because it helped reduce the frequency of attacks by southern separatists, he claimed.

The airship was intended to act as a deterrent rather than identify and catch suspects, Gen Chalermchai said.

“It is like we shopped for an item in a department store and we thought it was good. But when we used it, it was not 100% good. But it could still be used,” Gen Chalermchai said.

The airship was initially intended to support security operations in the deep South at a time when casualties among civilians and soldiers were running high, the army chief said.

Such a vehicle had never been used by the military before and glitches were unavoidable, Gen Chalermchai said.

Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda approved the purchase when he served as army chief but Gen Chalermchai said the procurement of military equipment was handled by the army rather than any particular individual.

He said a committee was set up to consider the purchase beforehand in line with procedure.

The blimp went into service in 2009 and its decommissioning was confirmed by Gen Chalermchai last week.

Political activist Srisuwan Janya, who also serves as secretary-general of the Association to Protect the Thai Constitution, petitioned the Office of the AttorneyGeneral (OAG) earlier to look into the procurement.

Mr Srisuwan said if irregularities are uncovered the OAG must forward its findings to the National Anti-Corruption Commission to punish Gen Anupong.

The petition also targets former cabinet ministers of the Abhisit Vejjajiva government, which approved the budget for the purchase and operation of the airship.

Soon after it went into service leaks were detected. Due to the prohibitive cost of refilling it with helium the airship was mainly kept in a hangar at the 15th Infantry Division in Pattani’s Nong Chik district until Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha became the new army commander.

The army reportedly had to spend up to 25 million baht on helium in some years even though the dirigible was almost never used in later years of service, critics contend.

Gen Prayut, as army chief, approved the hiring of a private company to maintain the airship at a cost of 50 million baht a year. This allowed it to be flown occasionally for surveillance operations.

The airship, however, was criticised as being substandard and it remained stuck in a hangar until it was decommissioned.