On March 28, 2018, the news agency “Военное РФ” reported that the contract to supply to the militaries of Thailand with 49 Ukrainian tanks BM “Oplot-T” is completed. This was stated by the general director of GC Ukroboronprom Pavel Bukin.
According to him, the implementation of the Thai contract allowed Ukraine to receive foreign exchange earnings to the budget and to load production capacities of the concern’s enterprises.
He said that the work on the creation of the renewed tanks “Oplot” will be carried out within the framework of experimental design works, which are coordinated with the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. Also significant modernization of the T-64 tanks, which are operated in the Ukrainian army, for their unification with the “Oplot” tanks is planned.
“Oplot-T” is a modification of the Ukrainian tank for the army of Thailand, in comparison with the standard version some changes were made to the internal equipment and communication systems, air conditioning was installed for comfortable work of tankmen in a tropical climate.
In 2011, Thailand signed a contract with “Ukrspetsexport” worth 7.2 billion baht (about 250 million US dollars) for the purchase of 49 main battle tanks T-84 “Oplot” (plus two armored recovery vehicles).
The terms of the agreement presupposed the completion of the delivery in 2014, but due to various problems, Ukrainian producers could not meet the deadlines.