Maj Gen Winthai Suvaree was responding yesterday (Dec 10) to reports about the deployment of PHL-03 long-range multiple rocket launchers in Kampong Thom province of Cambodia. The deployment had been briefly noted on the Facebook page of the Thai Armed Forces Headquarters earlier in the day, reports the Bangkok Post.
Maj Gen Winthai said Cambodia had never used long-range rocket launchers and the range of the Chinese-made PHL-03 launchers was too far for the present circumstances.
He said the 2nd Army Area reported the deployment only for purposes of public awareness and that people did not need to be very concerned.
“The 2nd Army has been keeping it under surveillance,” Maj Gen Winthai said. “The Thai armed forces have retaliatory measures but I will not elaborate on how they would be carried out.”
Cambodia’s military has 48 BM-21 launchers that it has been using regularly, and only six PHL-03 units, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
The PHL-03 can fire guided and unguided rockets with a range of between 70 and 130 kilometres, according to a US military database, while the Soviet-designed BM-21 has a range of 15 to 40km.
Based on the movement of weapons and their range, Thailand’s military assessed that Cambodian forces could use BM-21 and PHL-03 rockets to target a provincial airport and a state-run hospital in the Northeast, defence ministry spokesman Rear Adm Surasant Kongsiri said earlier this week.
“Based on our intelligence as well, there have been attempts … to lock on the coordinates of these facilities,” he told Reuters, without elaborating.
Buriram airport is located about 100km away from the border, beyond the reach of the BM-21. Prasat Hospital, located in the neighbouring Surin province, is less than 30km from the border.
At the press conference yesterday, AM Jackkrit Thammavichai, spokesman for the Royal Thai Air Force, said the air force was attacking significant military targets such as command centres, drone-control centres and arsenals of mines and weapons, including those that threatened the security of Thailand and the safety of Thai people.
“If it is clearly confirmed with intelligence or any information that Cambodia intends to use heavy weapons to attack targets in Thailand, be they important buildings, the air force is ready to attack any targets deep inside Cambodia,” he said.