The United States has approved the sale to Thailand of eight AH-6i light attack/reconnaissance helicopters and related weapons and equipment at an estimated cost of $400 million.
The AH-6i will replace the aging fleet of seven AH-1F Cobra helicopters active in the Royal Thai Army (RTA). The purchase is in line with RTA’s efforts to revitalize and modernize its military. The copters will improve the RTA’s capability to strengthen its homeland defense and deter regional threats.
In addition to the eight aircraft, the government of Thailand requested to buy 10 M299 Longbow Hellfire Launchers and 50 AGM-114R Hellfire missiles, along with 10 M260 rocket launchers and 200 Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) guided rockets.
The small yet powerful AH-6i is an advanced and flexible variant of the AH-6M operated by the U.S. Army Special Operations Forces which can be configured for a range of missions including light attack and close support, reconnaissance, troop insertion, and extraction and search and rescue.
