Several significant U.S. allies, like South Korea, Australia, and Japan, already have F-35 fighter jets, and Singapore is expected to follow suit.
Thailand, America's long-standing treaty partner in Asia, could be next in line. However, analysts say there is no guarantee that the United States will sanction the sale, given Thailand's close defense connections to the U.S.' strategic adversary China.
Thailand's interest in Lockheed Martin's F-35 stealth fighters is genuine, a senior executive at the defense company said Wednesday, but approval to purchase the jets is an issue for the U.S. government.
Tim Cahill, Lockheed Martin's senior vice president for global business, confirmed Thailand's interest but said nothing official had been announced.
Thailand's air force set aside $413 million in January for the acquisition of four F-35s. That same month, Thailand's Air Chief Marshal Napadej Dhupatemiya expressed interest in purchasing up to eight warplanes.
Thailand's cabinet has approved a budget for a four-year period beginning in the fiscal year 2023 to replace some of the country's older F-16 planes, Air Vice Marshal Prapas Sornchaidee, the air force's spokesman, told reporters.
Thailand presently has 12 Saab-built JAS-39 Gripen fighter jets and scores of American F-16 and F-5 combat planes, some of which have been in service since the late 1980s.
The F-35, one of the world's most modern fighter aircraft, is classified as a "highly sensitive export," with only the closest U.S. allies receiving it. Only Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore operate the jet in the Indo-Pacific region.
The stealth fighter jet, built by Lockheed Martin, has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons following a late January accident of an F-35C on the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier in the South China Sea.
The US military is currently attempting to recover the plane from the bottom of the ocean.
Despite the disaster, the F-35s remain "the most technologically advanced fighters on the market today," according to Richard Bitzinger, senior fellow at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies' Military Transformations Program.
The initial cost of the F-35A was $221 million in 2007, but as manufacturing volumes and know-how improved, the price dropped to around $79 million in July last year as the aircraft gained appeal and purchasers in over a dozen countries.
According to Spokesman Prapas, the type of aircraft to be purchased will be determined by two committees charged with evaluating the suitability of various aircraft.
