Royal Thai Naval Air Division

The Royal Thai Naval Air Division or RTNAD (Thai: กองบินทหารเรือ) is the Naval aviation of the Royal Thai Navy. The division was officially established on 7 December 1926.[1] The RTNAD has two air wings and one Flying Unit of HTMS Chakri Naruebet, operating 23 fixed-wing aircraft and 26 helicopters[3] from U-Tapao, Songkhla, and Phuket. The First Royal Thai Navy wing has three squadrons; the Second Royal Thai Navy wing has three squadrons and another wing for HTMS Chakri Naruebet Flying Unit.

Royal Thai Naval Air Division
กองบินทหารเรือ[1]
Royal Thai Navy Aircraft Marking
Active7 December 1926[1]
Country Thailand
Branch Royal Thai Navy
TypeNaval aviation
Size1,200 Active Personnel [2]
Approx. 49+ aircraft[3]
Anniversaries7 December[1]
Insignia
Roundel

History

The establishment Royal Thai Naval Air Division began in 1921, when the Admiral Prince Abhakara Kiartivongse gave an opinion to the Naval Command Council of Ministry of the Navy on 23 November 1921.[1] The Naval Aviation Division was expedient to set up an air fleet using Sattahip as a base with 2 seaplanes. The Naval Command Council approved this proposal on 7 December 1926.[1]

Later, the Royal Thai Naval Air Division has more aircraft living with Royal Thai Air Force Place there are some inconveniences so in 1957, the Navy built the Airport coming up at Ban Utapao, Rayong Province by using the navy budget during construction, the United States offered construction assistance and requested to use some parts of U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield in return.

Structure
A Royal Thai Navy pilot shares best practices 4 June 2013

The headquarters of Royal Thai Naval Air Division has 10 commanding units as follows;:[4]

  • Personnel Division
  • Intelligence Division
  • Operations Division
  • Logistics Division
  • Division of Communication and Information Technology
  • Budget Division
  • Science and Safety Aviation Division
  • Division of Engineering Plans
  • Administration Department
  • Finance Department

Commands

Royal Thai Naval Air Division is a combat unit under commissioned of Royal Thai Fleet. The aviation division is divided into 6 regiments, corresponding to one additional command unit namely; Wing 1 Regiment, Wing 2 Regiment, Air Operations Control Regiment, The Flight Station Regiment, Aircraft Maintenance and Repair Center Regiment, Security Regiment and one additional command unit of HTMS Chakri Naruebet Flying Unit.[4]

U-Tapao RTNAF
Songkhla RTNAF
Nakorn Phanom RTNAF
Narathiwat RTNAF
Phuket RTNAF
Chanthaburi RTNAF
Royal Thai Navy Airfields
Squadron Status Role Type
Wing 1
101 Active SAR Maritime patrol aircraft
102 Active ASuW and ASW Maritime patrol aircraft
103 Active Forward air control Maritime patrol aircraft
104 Inactive
Wing 2
201 Active Military transport Maritime patrol aircraft
202 Active Military transport Helicopter
203 Active ASuW and Military transport Helicopter
HTMS Chakri Naruebet Flying Unit
1 Inactive
2 Active ASW and Military transport Helicopter

Squadrons

The following squadrons are currently active with the Royal Thai Naval Division.[6]

SquadronEquipmentWingRTAF BaseNotes
101 Naval Air SquadronDornier 228Naval Air Wing 1U-Tapao
102 Naval Air SquadronFokker F27Naval Air Wing 1U-Tapao
103 Naval Air SquadronCessna 337 Super SkymasterNaval Air Wing 1U-Tapao
104 Naval Air Squadron-Naval Air Wing 1U-Tapao
201 Naval Air SquadronFokker F27, Embraer ERJ-135LRNaval Air Wing 2U-Tapao
202 Naval Air SquadronBell 212, Eurocopter EC145Naval Air Wing 2U-Tapao
203 Naval Air SquadronSikorsky S-76, Super Lynx 300Naval Air Wing 2U-Tapao
1 HTMS Chakri Naruebet Flying Squadron-HTMS Chakri Naruebet Flying UnitU-Tapao
2 HTMS Chakri Naruebet Flying SquadronSH-70B Seahawk, MH-60S KnighthawkHTMS Chakri Naruebet Flying UnitU-Tapao

Aircraft

Active aircraft
Royal Thai Navy Fokker27-MK 400
Royal Thai Navy Sikorksy S-76B
Camcopter S-100
Aircraft Origin Type Quantity Notes
Fixed-wing aircraft
Fokker F27  Netherlands Anti-submarine warfare,
Military transport		 2[3]
3[3]		 MK400
MK200
Dornier 228  Germany Search and rescue 7[3] Also used in Royal Rain Project.
NAX seaplane  Thailand Search and rescue 3 or 4[7] Serial no.s NAX-01 to NAX-04, locally built by Naval Aircraft Experimental.[7] NAX-01 crashed and sank in shallow water in mid-2017, and it is unclear whether it was subsequently returned to service.[8]
CASA/IPTN CN-235  Spain Maritime patrol aircraft (+3) 3 on order[3]
Embraer ERJ-135LR  Brazil VIP transport aircraft 2[3]
Cessna 337 Super Skymaster  United States FAC aircraft 4
3
2		 H-SP
SP
G
Helicopter
Sikorsky S-76B  United States Search and rescue,
Military transport		 5[3]
Super Lynx 300  United Kingdom Anti-surface warfare 2[3]
SH-70B Seahawk  United States Anti-submarine warfare 6[3] HTMS Chakri Naruebet Flying Unit.
MH-60S Knighthawk  United States Military transport 2[3] HTMS Chakri Naruebet Flying Unit.
Eurocopter EC145  Germany Military transport 5[3]
Bell 212  United States Military transport 7[3]
Unmanned aerial vehicles
KSM150  Thailand Unmanned aerial vehicles 2 Defense Technology Institute
Camcopter S-100  Austria Unmanned aerial vehicles (1) One on order.

Historic aircraft
Canadair CL-215
A-7E Corsair II
Lockheed P-3 Orion
AV-8S Matador
Aircraft Origin Type Service Quantity Notes
Avro 504N Thailand
 United Kingdom		Trainer1929-19482[9][1]Built locally.[9]
WS-103S JapanReconnaissance1938-19466[9]
Nakajima E8N JapanReconnaissance1938-194627[1]
Aichi E13A JapanReconnaissance1939-1945+6[9]Three aircraft ordered in 1939 and three in 1941.
Mitsubishi A6M Zero JapanFighter1942-19453[9]
Beechcraft 35 Bonanza United StatesReconnaissance1948-19513[9]
Piper Pa-11 United StatesReconnaissance1949-19512[9]
Fairey Firefly United KingdomFighter1951-195112 [9]10 F Mk. 1 and 2 T Mk. 2
Tiger Moth United KingdomTrainer1951-195130[9]
Curtiss SB2C Helldiver United StatesBomber1951-19556[9]
Grumman HU-16D United StatesSAR1962-19813[9]
Grumman S-2 Tracker United StatesASW1966-199912[9]
Cessna O-1G United StatesReconnaissance1968-19978[9]
Cessna U-17 United StatesReconnaissance1974-19978[9]
Bell 205 UH-1H United StatesUtility helicopter1975-??4[9]
Douglas C-47 Skytrain United StatesMilitary transport1978-199913[9]
Canadair CL-215 CanadaSAR1978-20172[9]
GAF N.24A Normad AustraliaMilitary transport1984-20155[9]
Bell 214ST United StatesUtility helicopter1987-20105[9]
A-7E Corsair II United StatesAttacker1995-200721[9]All airframes stored.
Lockheed P-3 Orion United StatesASW1996-20145[9]Second-hand but modernized before delivery
AV-8S Matador United KingdomAttack1997-20069[9]Used on HTMS Chakri Naruebet.

Rank structure
Main article: Military ranks of the Thai armed forces
Equivalent
NATO Code		OF-10OF-9OF-8OF-7OF-6OF-5OF-4OF-3OF-2OF-1Cadet Officer
Officer
ranks
จอมพลเรือ พลเรือเอก พลเรือโท พลเรือตรี พลเรือจัตวา1 นาวาเอก นาวาโท นาวาตรี เรือเอก เรือโท เรือตรี นักเรียนนายเรือ
Admiral of the Fleet Admiral Vice Admiral Rear Admiral Commodore
or
Rear Admiral
(lower half)1		 Captain Commander Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant Lieutenant
Junior Grade		 Sub Lieutenant Midshipman
Equivalent
NATO Code		OR-9OR-8OR-7OR-5OR-4OR-3OR-1
Enlisted
ranks		 No insignia
พันจ่าเอกพิเศษ พันจ่าเอก พันจ่าโท พันจ่าตรี จ่าเอก จ่าโท จ่าตรี พลทหาร
Master Chief Petty
Officer		 Senior Chief Petty
Officer		 Chief Petty
Officer		 Petty Officer
1st class		 Petty Officer
2nd Class		 Petty Officer
3rd Class		 Seaman Seaman apprentice

See also

References
  1. Royal Thai Naval, Air Division (17 November 2019). "History of Royal Thai Naval Air Division". www.thaiflynavy.org. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  2. บำรุงสุข, สุรชาติ (18 July 2019). "เปิดข้อมูลอำนาจกำลังรบไทย". www.matichonweekly.com. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  3. World Air Forces, 2019 (17 November 2019). "History of Royal Thai Naval Air Division". www.flightglobal.com. Retrieved 17 November 2019.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  4. Royal Thai Naval, Air Division (17 November 2019). "Structure of Royal Thai Naval Air Division". www.thaiflynavy.org. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  5. patch, thai (17 November 2019). "Squadron". www.thaipatch.com. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  6. "Royal Thai Air Force Organization". rtaf.mil.th. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  7. thai, mariner (3 May 2012). "'เครื่องบินทะเล' ลาดตระเวนชายฝั่ง". www.marinerthai.net. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  8. https://www.pattayamail.com/news/navy-plane-crashes-sattahip-178511
  9. World Air Forces – Historical Listings Thailand (THL), archived from the original on 25 January 2012, retrieved 30 August 2012
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