Boonrawd Somtas said the military needed new tanks, ships, fighter jets and helicopters after the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis had capped annual defence spending at 80 billion baht ($2.4 billion) in the past decade.

The defence budget for the current fiscal year to end-September was 115 billion baht, but that was not enough to buy new weapons, Boonrawd told Reuters in an interview.

'Most of the budget goes to the troops, we can't afford new weapons. We have just enough to repair the old ones,' the retired army general said.

The military has faced criticism for buying new equipment at a time when the country's economic growth has slowed due to post-coup political uncertainty.

The army, air force and navy would start buying new weapons in the next fiscal year when military spending is set to rise to 143 billion baht, a combined 66 percent increase since the coup that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra last September.

The military-appointed parliament is expected to approve the 2007/08 defence budget by September.

Big-ticket items on the generals' shopping list included 34 billion baht in new jet fighters to replace ageing American-made F-5Es.

Boonrawd said the air force had not yet chosen a new fighter from a list that included Sweden's Gripen, the Russian-made Sukhoi Su-30, France's Rafael and the American-made F-16, of which Thailand already flies an older model.

He said the army favoured buying Ukraine's BTR-3E1 armoured personnel vehicles, produced by state-owned Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau, because it was the cheapest of nine bidders.

Boonrawd said Canada, Russia and China had lobbied hard for their bids, but price was the deciding factor.

'Canadian vehicles are excellent, but we would get only half of the 96 vehicles we will get from Ukraine. It's like buying Japanese cars over European cars,' he said.

Security analysts have questioned the focus on price alone, saying maintenance costs and availability of spare parts should be considered as well.

Boonrawd said all factors would be taken into consideration by the military's procurement team.

'If they think the Ukrainian vehicles are good and propose it to me, I will pass it on to the cabinet for approval,' he said.

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