Thai military puts up spending defense

Controversy over the accuracy of a bomb scanner used by security officials in insurgency-hit areas of southern Thailand has raised new questions about the military's procurement processes in the wake of ramped up spending since a 2006 coup.

After a steady nine-year decline in the military's budget following the 1997 financial crisis, defense spending quadrupled in the months immediately following the September 2006 coup, as the military embarked on a modernization campaign.

A request for a collective long-term arms procurement program from the Thaksin Shinawatra government toppled in the coup had been denied.

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