Thai F-16 mission markings reveal munitions used in 2025 Cambodia clashes

Mission markings on Royal Thai Air Force F-16s have given new indications of the weapons and aircraft used in the 2025 fighting between Thailand and Cambodia, according to imagery of the jets.

The markings suggest the F-16s carried AMRAAM and IRIS-T air-to-air missiles and GBU-12 guided bombs. The same account of the conflict places the combat debut of the Gripen in Thai service during the fighting, along with strikes involving T-50TH aircraft.

Fighting between the two Southeast Asian neighbours began with an armed confrontation on 28 May 2025 before widening considerably in July. A further air and ground clash followed in December. Thai ground forces received extensive air force support around the border and inside Cambodian territory, with several aircraft types involved.

The border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand traces to uncertainty over demarcation lines set under agreements in 1904 and 1907, drawn while the area was part of French Indochina. After Cambodia became independent from France in 1953, sovereignty over the Preah Vihear temple complex became a central point of contention.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the temple belonged to Cambodia, relying on historical maps and French survey records. Disagreement over the surrounding land persisted. In 2013, after Cambodia sought clarification of that judgment, the court said its earlier ruling had granted Cambodia sovereignty over the whole Preah Vihear promontory and called on Thailand to pull its personnel out of the area. That decision left sovereignty over other disputed areas outside the promontory unsettled, and wider stretches of the border have remained contested.

The dispute was largely quiet until the end of the 20th century. Between 2008 and 2011 military clashes broke out again, with artillery involved.