Why Thailand chose to buy Swedish fighter jets instead of US F-16s
During the early years of the Cold War in 1950, Thailand became closely aligned with the US and acquired most of its military aircraft from there. Then, during the Vietnam war in 1966-1967, the US began supplying F-5A Freedom Fighters to Thailand, which became the backbone of RTAF fighter aircraft until 1988 when Lockheed-Martin F-16s gradually replaced them. Ultimately, Thailand bought six batches of F-16s until 2004. All F-5s were meant to retire in 2010 and all F-16s by 2039.