Тайская армия: история, современность и политическое влияние

National army of Thailand

The Royal Thai Army or RTA (กองทัพบกไทย; ) is the army of Thailand and the oldest and largest branch of the Royal Thai Armed Forces.

The Royal Thai Army is responsible for protecting the kingdom's sovereignty. The army was formed in 1874, partly as a response to new security threats following the 1855 Bowring Treaty with Britain, which opened the country for international trade.

In modern era, the army has a long history of coups d'état and coup attempts. Its leadership continues to see coup making as one role of the army. On 22 May 2014 the army deposed the government, appointed military officers to the national assembly, and on 21 August 2014 they elected the army's Commander in Chief, General Prayut Chan o cha, as prime minister. The general retired October 2014 to concentrate on political reform which he said would take at least a year, following which he promised national elections would be held. The existence of an information warfare unit participating in a cyber campaign against government critics was leaked to the public in late February 2020. In 2020 Twitter shut down a network of accounts which were engaged in information warfare. According to Twitter "Our investigation uncovered a network of accounts partaking in information operations that we can reliably link to the Royal Thai Army (RTA)." The operation had targeted the political opposition within Thailand. The Thai Army denied that they had been involved in the disinformation operation.

The number of army generals is unclear. One point of comparison: as of 1 November 2019, the US Army had 322 general officers for a force of 471,990 troops. Saiyud Kerdphol is Thailand's oldest general, a veteran of World War II and Korea who retired in 1983 as supreme commander. During his tenure, general officer numbers were based on the number of troops under their command. , only 150–200 four star generals occupy command positions. Speaking on the topic of army manpower, Saiyud declared that, "Everybody being a general is unbelievable. Full generals don't have a seat to sit in or a job to do."

Army Medical Department (AMED) (กรมแพทย์ทหารบก) belongs to the service segment of the Royal Thai Army. It is in charge of medical affairs, and providing medical care, both in the field and on base, training personnel in research and agriculture and supervising the other medical divisions within the Royal Thai Army. AMED observed 111 years of service in January 2011, with 110 years of service having been honoured by issue of a series of commemorative stamps. AMED operates Phramongkutklao Hospital in Bangkok and Ananda Mahidol Hospital in Lopburi, along with smaller hospitals at each fort, as well as Phramongkutklao College of Medicine (PCM).

The RTA budget for FY2021 is 107,662 million baht, down from 112,815M baht in FY2020.

The army owns more than 30 golf courses nationwide. The army also owns boxing stadium, 100 petrol stations, racecourses, hotels, retail and coffee shops, and radio and television airwaves (by one count, the armed forces have ownership in 537 radio and TV stations). In early 2020, the army entered an agreement with the Finance Ministry to turn over to the ministry the management of businesses unrelated to the army's mission. In a related move, army commander General Apirat Kongsompong decreed that retired generals must move out of army owned housing to free space for serving officers. , about 100 retired generals and colonels inhabit army accommodations. Some ex generals, like PM Prayut Chan o cha and deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan were exempted immediately from eviction because of their "contribution to society". The Thai Defence Ministry position is that there is no law prohibiting retired officers from occupying military housing. In January 2021, the RTA signed a memorandum of understanding with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) to study the feasibility of constructing solar farms on 4.5 million rai of army land to generate 30,000 megawatts of electricity. Following up, on 22 February 2021 a meeting was called by the President of Royal Thai Army Radio and Television Channel 5 with energy firms interested in winning a piece of what is projected to be a 600 billion baht project. The Energy Ministry was not represented at the meeting. Critics have questioned why the army is involved in energy procurement, in contravention of existing regulations, and why Thailand needs more electricity when it already has 59% reserve capacity and more capacity under construction.