Royal Thai Army to buy a battalion of Chinese VT-4 Main Battle Tanks.

via ASEAN Blog (if you want a bird's eye view of the Pacific region then they need to be on your reading list).

Source in RTA told TAF that the Royal Thai Army signed the contract last month with the undisclosed number of tank and contract value. But the aim is to field a battalion of VT-4.

Eelier, RTA ordered the 50 T-84 Oplot-M from Ukraine to meet the requirement of 200 new main battle tank. But the unrest in Ukraine delayed the delivery.

If RTA satisfied with the Chinese tank, the source said, they will order for to meet all unfilled requirement of 150 tanks.

"Even the VT-4 will be manufacture in China but the contract require technology transfer to Thailand. Defense Technology Institute will be one of the technology receiver"

Delivery is expected in 2 years.

I can't wait.  It will be nice to finally get our hands on some Chinese armor to take it apart, do metallurgical studies, test its electronics and see how much they've closed the distance.