Thai Army To Acquire Starstreak Missile

The Royal Thai Army has purchased Thales UK’s Starstreak air defense missile. The deal was announced during a visit to London by Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

The two sides declined to give a value or delivery date for the very-short-range air defense missile already purchased by British and South African armed forces.

The Thai military will deploy the weapon from lightweight, portable, multiple launchers rather than the vehicle-mounted option favored by the British.

Built and developed by Thales in Northern Ireland, the missile has a peak speed of more than Mach 3. The company said that as the world’s fastest very-short-range missile, it can travel a kilometer in less than a second.