Irrawaddy-Dec 3
Addressing the 67th graduation ceremony of the Defense Services Academy in Pyin Oo Lwin on Wednesday, coup leader Min Aung Hlaing declared that battlefield victories now rest not on manpower or traditional strategy, but on “air superiority, electronic warfare dominance, and the precision of modern weaponry.” His comments come as his forces increasingly use airstrikes and high-tech drones to reverse anti-regime groups’ gains. The general sought to contrast a bygone era of boots and bayonets with the present, in which drones, cyber operations and even space-based intelligence supposedly define the battlefield. The Myanmar military was losing ground until this year, when weapons, funds and technical assistance from China and modern hardware from Russia and Belarus enabled it to launch counteroffensives in the Bamar heartland as well as in ethnic-majority states including Kachin, Karenni, Karen, Rakhine and northern Shan. Resistance groups from Kachin and Karen have reported the junta’s use of high-tech Chinese drones in combat. Observers also note that the junta’s cooperation with Russia on space technology has enabled the Myanmar military to track and strike enemy positions—hence Min Aung Hlaing’s boasting of the junta’s “technological superiority” at the DSA graduation. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/min-aung-hlaing-hails-technological-superiority-as-junta-leans-on-drones-airpower.html
