Thai navy’s new OPV enters service
A new OPV entered Royal Thai Navy (RTN) service on 27 September, with the modernised design giving more punch and performance. As well as being a patrol vessel in peacetime, it can turn into a combat vessel in wartime, and the RTN requires two more such vessels to fulfil its six-OPV requirement.
Adm Luechai Rutdit, Commander-in-Chief of the RTN, presided over the acceptance ceremony of HTMS Prachuap Khiri Khan, which will serve in the Patrol Squadron. Its total cost is $187 million.
The key differences between OPV predecessors HTMS Prachuap Khiri Khan and Krabi are Harpoon Block II anti-ship
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