ABSTRACT
The RTN* shares with the Indonesian Navy the regional peculiarity of being a service developed without much outside influence. Thai culture and politics mean that the RTN is much more closely involved with and influential in domestic affairs than the navies of most other Asian states. It is a difficult organization to analyse. Planning processes bear little resemblance to Western methods, the budgetary system is a labyrinth to the outsider and threat perceptions are skewed more towards internal security than is generally the case for navies. Nevertheless, the RTN is developing and may be improving in many areas, particularly logistics and maintenance, in which historically it has been weak.
