13-6-2024 (YANGON) In a dramatic shift in the ongoing civil war in Myanmar, the country’s resistance fighters are confronting a new and formidable foe – armed drones deployed by the ruling military junta. After relying heavily on a scattered fleet of modified commercial drones to gain decisive breakthroughs against the junta’s forces last year, the rebels now find themselves facing a mirror image of their own tactics.
According to seven individuals with knowledge of the matter, the junta has begun procuring and modifying Chinese-made commercial drones to carry explosives, marking a significant escalation in the conflict. This new development has altered the dynamics of the battlefield, as both sides grapple with the introduction of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in their fight for control.
“The battle is changing now as drones are being used by both sides,” said a 31-year-old rebel fighter in the country’s southeast, identifying himself by the nom de guerre of Ta Yoke Gyi. He revealed that the junta began employing armed UAVs to attack the rebels around the turn of the year, and his unit recently shot down a drone believed to be of Chinese origin based on its components and modifications for combat purposes.
Ta Yoke Gyi’s account is corroborated by two other rebel fighters in different parts of Myanmar, who described similar skirmishes involving the junta’s drones to Reuters. The news agency interviewed four resistance fighters, two analysts, and an official from a country in the region who tracks the conflict, painting a comprehensive picture of the evolving battlefield dynamics.
According to Ta Yoke Gyi, some resistance fighters have already been injured by the junta’s drones, highlighting the growing threat posed by these unmanned aerial weapons. “They’ve become better at using them,” he lamented, underscoring the junta’s rapid adaptation to the new technology.
Min Zaw Oo, the executive director of the Myanmar Institute for Peace and Security think-tank, revealed that the junta started procuring thousands of Chinese commercial UAVs at the beginning of the year, which it is modifying to arm with locally manufactured munitions. His information is based on intelligence gathered from military officials and individuals with knowledge of weapons production in the country.
While the junta’s spokesman did not respond to requests for comment, regime leader Min Aung Hlaing acknowledged last year that rebels had dropped over 25,000 bombs using drones during a major offensive in October, forcing some military posts to be abandoned.
In response to a Reuters inquiry, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian stated, “China has always adopted a prudent and responsible attitude in the export of military products and dual-use items.”
The resistance fighters, however, paint a different picture. Four of them told Reuters that they had only seen a handful of junta drones at a time on the frontline in recent months, suggesting that the military may not have deployed all the newly procured aircraft. The reasons for this limited deployment remain unclear, and Reuters could not independently verify the circumstances surrounding the junta’s use of armed drones.
As the civil war enters its third year since the 2021 coup that abruptly ended Myanmar’s tentative experiment with civilian democracy, the junta finds itself at its weakest, having lost vast territories to an opposition comprising new armed groups and established ethnic armies.
While the trajectory of the conflict remains unpredictable, the resistance appears to have lost its early advantage of being the primary fighting force utilizing drones, according to Min Zaw Oo and another analyst, a view shared by Ta Yoke Gyi.
The emergence of commercial drones as a game-changer in modern warfare was highlighted during the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, where Kyiv’s forces rapidly built and deployed large fleets for battlefield purposes. In Myanmar, the resistance fighters followed a similar path, with individuals like Ta Yoke Gyi, a former long-distance bus driver, taking up arms against the junta and adapting to the use of drones for reconnaissance and offensive operations.
Ta Yoke Gyi now heads the Angry Bird Drone Rangers, a rebel unit that began deploying small Chinese-made DJI drones for reconnaissance shortly after the coup. The unit subsequently built larger drones modified to carry domestically produced bombs, using instructions gleaned from experts on social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
“We bought the components part by part and started testing the drones for about four to five months,” Ta Yoke Gyi explained, highlighting the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the resistance fighters.
The three other resistance members interviewed by Reuters described similar methods of building larger armed UAVs, with several components readily available on regional e-commerce platforms.
Until recently, the junta had relied heavily on artillery and conventional aerial support to hold strategic outposts in the borderlands, where the bloodiest fighting is taking place. However, the swarms of rebel drones disabled artillery positions, and resistance ground troops cut off nearby military bases, according to Min Zaw Oo.
The most significant demonstration of rebel drone warfare came during Operation 1027, a major offensive led by an alliance of three ethnic armies last October. Morgan Michaels, a Myanmar expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think-tank, described how fighters from the Three Brotherhood Alliance “just sent wave after wave after wave of drones to drop explosives onto these bases.”
However, in the months that followed, the resistance found itself on the receiving end of the junta’s drone attacks, marking a significant shift in the conflict’s dynamics. Michaels believes that Operation 1027 and the rebels’ effective use of drones against the regime was a “wake-up call,” prompting the junta to substantially expand its offensive use of UAVs.
Two resistance fighters told Reuters that they had shot down drones that appeared to be originally designed for crop spraying, including one bearing the English inscription “Boying,” a reference to a Chinese manufacturer of flight controllers for UAVs primarily used in agriculture.
As the junta takes time to retrain and refit its dwindling frontline battalions, relying on conscription to replenish its forces, it is likely to maintain a defensive posture, according to Min Zaw Oo. However, he added, “at the same time, they will harass the opposition’s positions with the use of drones.”
