Thailand Military - 2021

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Royal Thai Armed Forces (Kongthap Thai, RTARF): Royal Thai Army (Kongthap Bok Thai, RTA; includes Thai Rangers (Thahan Phrahan)), Royal Thai Navy (Kongthap Ruea Thai, RTN; includes Royal Thai Marine Corps), Royal Thai Air Force (Kongthap Akaat Thai, RTAF); Office of the Prime Minister: Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC; oversees counter-insurgency operations, as well as countering terrorism, narcotics and weapons trafficking, and other internal security duties); Ministry of Interior: Volunteer Defense Corps (2021)

note: the Thai Rangers (aka Thahan Phrahan or 'Hunter Soldiers’) is a paramilitary force formed in 1978 to clear Communist Party of Thailand guerrillas from mountain strongholds in the country's northeast; it is a light infantry force led by regular officers and non-commissioned officers and comprised of both full‐ and part‐time personnel; it conducts counterinsurgency operations in the southern region; on the eastern border with Laos and Cambodia, the Rangers have primary responsibility for border surveillance and protection

Military expenditures

1.4% of GDP (2020 est.)

1.3% of GDP (2019)

1.4% of GDP (2018)

1.6% of GDP (2017)

1.6% of GDP (2016)

Military and security service personnel strengths

estimates for the size of the Royal Thai Armed Forces (RTARF) vary widely; approximately 350,000 active duty personnel (240,000 Army; 65,000 Navy; 45,000 Air Force); est. 20,000 Thai Rangers; est. 5-6,000 Internal Security Operations Command (2020)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the RTARF has a diverse array of foreign-supplied weapons systems, including a large amount of obsolescent or second-hand US equipment; since 2010, Thailand has received military equipment from nearly 20 countries with China, South Korea, Sweden, Ukraine, and the US as the leading suppliers (2020)

Military deployments

275 South Sudan (UNMISS) (Jan 2021)

Military service age and obligation

21 years of age for compulsory military service; 18 years of age for voluntary military service; males register at 18 years of age; 2-year conscript service obligation based on lottery (2019)

Military - note

including the most recent in 2014, the military has attempted nearly 20 coups since the fall of absolute monarchy in 1932

since 2004, the military has fought against separatist insurgents in the southern provinces of Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat, as well as parts of Songkhla; the insurgency is rooted in ethnic Malay nationalist resistance to Thai rule that followed the extension of Siamese sovereignty over the Patani Sultanate in the 18th century; the insurgency consists of several armed groups, the largest of which is the Barisan Revolusi Nasional-Koordinasi (BRN-C): since 2018, the Thai military has been negotiating with an umbrella organization, MARA Pattani, that claims to represent the insurgency groups; since 2004, the fighting has claimed about 7,000 lives; as of mid-2020, an estimated 100,000 military and paramilitary forces were deployed in the south to combat the insurgency

 

NOTE: The information regarding Thailand on this page is re-published from the 2021 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Thailand 2021 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Thailand 2021 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.