ARLINGTON, Va. (AFNS) —
Kelli L. Seybolt, deputy below secretary of the Air Force, International Affairs and Lt. Gen. Somkiat Sampan, Thailand’s Director-General of Defence Science and Technology Department, signed a milestone agreement June 1 to collaborate on protection applied sciences.
The leaders signed the information exchange agreement throughout a digital ceremony. Titled “Remote Sensing for Base Perimeter Defense,” it’s the first International Armaments Cooperation collaboration between the U.S. Department of Defense and Thai Ministry of Defence.
“This important step forward is just the latest manifestation of our deep and enduring relationship,” Seybolt mentioned. “United by our shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, Thailand is our oldest friend and ally in Asia, and our close cooperation reflects a friendship of nearly two centuries.”
Somkiat added: “Our relationship and our cooperation in the past … made this [information exchange agreement] possible.”
The subject for the agreement was first proposed by Thailand, and overlapped with present analysis actions and pursuits of the U.S. Air Force. There at the moment are cheap, field-deployable applied sciences which have the potential to defend installations utilizing automated distant sensing.
The agreement will permit each events to advance the speculation and testing wanted for programs that may sense, detect, and classify set up threats. Commercial off-the-shelf prototypes from each Thailand and the U.S. might be examined, and suggestions shared.
Exploratory discussions have been first held on the Royal Thai Air Force Academy with illustration from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology, the U.S. Air Force Academy, Secretary of the Air Force International Affairs, and the Joint United States Military Advisory Group Thailand in November 2019.
“It is a thrill to expand the scope of our security cooperation with Thailand,” Seybolt concluded. “And it is our sincere hope that this is only the start of a robust series of cooperative activities in next-generation defense technologies.”