DTI Thailand delivered Sea Tiger AAPC 8x8 Amphibious Armored Personnel Carriers to Royal Thai Marine Corps.

According to a report by Defense Studies, the National Defense Technology Institute (DTI) delivered its 8x8 "Sea Tiger" Amphibious Armored Personnel Carrier (AAPC) to the Royal Thai Marine Corps (RTMC) during the Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise (CALFEX), as part of the Royal Thai Navy's (RTN) annual exercise for Fiscal Year 2023.
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DTI delivered its AAPC 8x8 "Sea Tiger" to the Thai Royal Marines during CALFEX (Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise) of the Royal Thai Navy’s annual exercise (Picture source: Royal Thai Navy)

The "Sea Tiger" AAPC is a prototype 8x8 wheeled armored vehicle developed through a joint research and development project between DTI and the Naval Research and Development Office (NRDO). It received certification from the Royal Thai Navy Armament Standards Board on September 14, 2021. The delivery took place on May 18, 2023, during a live ammunition tactics exercise at the Royal Thai Navy Training Ground No. 16, located in Ban Chanthaklem District, Khao Khitchakut, Chanthaburi Province.

This delivery of the DTI AAPC 8x8 amphibious armored vehicles comes after Panus Assembly Co., Ltd. Thailand delivered its R600 8x8 amphibious armored vehicle to the Thai Marine Corps on May 9, 2023. The Panus R600 8x8 vehicle emerged as the winner in a project to purchase armored wheeled vehicles of the 8x8 transport type. The contract was worth 99,900,000 baht ($3,080,387), with each unit priced at 49,950,000 baht ($1,540,240).

The Royal Thai Navy has a project to procure a total of seven 8x8 armored personnel carriers for the Thai Marine Corps, amounting to approximately 448 million baht ($13,272,699). It is understood that the DTI Marine Sea Tiger vehicle and the Panus R600 vehicle are the competing options under consideration for this project.

The DTI AAPC 8x8 wheeled armored vehicle, manufactured by Cho Thavee Public Company Limited in Thailand, has an estimated price of around 150 million baht ($5 million) per unit. It is equipped with a Remote Weapons Station (RWS) turret of the ADDER M30 type, which has a 30mm size and is sourced from ST Kinetics in Singapore. On the other hand, the Panus R600 8x8 wheeled armored vehicle has not undergone testing yet, but it can potentially be equipped with weapons such as 12.7mm and 7.62mm machine guns. Options include the Turkish ASELSAN SARP remote turret or the optional 30mm machine gun with ASELSAN NEFER remote turret.

However, it is worth noting that the DTI AAPC 8x8 amphibious armored vehicle has a swimming speed of only 10.1km/h and can carry 14 personnel, whereas the R600 8x8 has a higher swimming speed of 13.7km/h and can accommodate up to 20 troops.

DTI delivered its AAPC 8x8 "Sea Tiger" to the Thai Royal Marines during CALFEX (Combined Arms Live Fire Exercise) of the Royal Thai Navy’s annual exercise (Picture source: Royal Thai Navy)

Defense News June 2023