TSAMTO, April 6. During the upcoming exercises, the Thai Navy Marine Corps will test the first batch of Israeli-developed guns received last year, which are assembled at the facilities of the local defense industry.
As reported by Aagth1.blogspot.com, during the exercise, 155-mm self-propelled artillery guns M758 ATMG will be tested (approx. TSAMTO: these are 155 mm autonomous self-propelled howitzer systems (ATMOS) from Elbit Systems.
The Thai Marine Corps evaluated Elbit Systems ' 155 mm self-propelled howitzer system ATMOS in the spring of 2017. The aim of the ATMOS purchase is to increase the firepower of the Marine artillery, which is currently equipped with obsolete Canadian 155mm GC-45/GHN-45 howitzers purchased in the 1980s.
The signing ceremony with the Israeli company Elbit Systems of the contract for the supply of six self-propelled artillery systems to the Thai Navy as part of the ATMG (Autonomous Truck Mounted Gun) project took place on March 23, 2018. The cost of the agreement concluded by the Navy command was $ 26.385 million. The delivery of the systems was planned to be completed within 28 months after the signing of the contract. As a result, the order was completed on June 30, 2020, which allowed the 4th Artillery Division of the KMP of Thailand to be completed ahead of schedule. The contract provides for an option to supply 12 more of the same units (to complete the remaining two batteries).
The installations were assembled by the WPC (Weapon Production Centre) of the Defence Industry and Energy Centre in Lopburi, which had previously produced a batch of ATMOS self-propelled guns for the Thai Army under an agreement with Elbit Systems on technology transfer (approx. TSAMTO: at the moment, the SV received 18 guns).
As previously reported by TSAMTO, Elbit Systems and the Defense Industry of Thailand have jointly implemented a program for the production of the 155-mm autonomous self-propelled howitzer system ATMOS since 2012. The contract worth $ 30 million for the supply of the first battery of six 155-mm ATMOS self-propelled guns to Thailand was signed in October 2012. The first ATMOS platform was assembled in Israel, and the five remaining platforms were assembled by the WPC Center in Thailand. In August 2015, Elbit Systems announced an additional contract worth $ 27 million for the supply of ATMOS self-propelled guns to an unnamed customer in the Asia-Pacific region. This customer was also called Thailand. In total, 54 units of M758 ATMG self-propelled guns are planned to be purchased for the Thai Armed Forces (for SV and KMP).
