Morung Express News
Dimapur | February 7
The conflict between the Myanmar military junta and rebel forces in the country’s northern regions has reportedly taken a new turn that has had security agencies on the Indian side of the border concerned. Ethnic opposition forces have now started employing Unmanned Aerial Combat Vehicles (UACV) or combat drones, sources in the military establishment said. “Various ethnic groups fighting the Myanmar Army are now attempting to use aerial drones to conduct many different types of operations, including targeting Myanmar Army posts,” said an army source.
Citing information from credible sources, the source said that the last such confirmed incident was reported on February 3 in Thantlang, a village located on the southern edge of Chin State. The target was a Myanmar Army post in the village. The source said that the opposition fighters, believed to be of the Chin National Army or Chinland Defense Force dropped atleast 3 bombs by drones on the target. There was no report of casualty.
As per the source, the incident coincided with the opposition forces stepping up offensive, targeting Junta installations, following the recent imposition of martial law in several regions across the country. As per news reports emerging from Myanmar, the Junta government had imposed martial law in atleast 7 townships in the Chin State on February 2. The source said, “Two things clearly need attention from this recent attack. First, the place of attack is not very far from the Indo-Myanmar border, which raises various security concerns.”
The other is the origin of the suspected UACV, the source added. The deployment of weaponised drones is not a new phenomenon with its use documented in recent international conflicts and more prominently, in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. But in as far as the conflict in Myanmar is concerned, there has not been any documented incident of ethnic opposition forces employing drone technology in recent times, the source claimed. “How are they getting access to niche technologies, which while in use for some time in other parts of the world, were yet to find way in the ongoing Myanmar crisis?” From a security perspective, the source said that such a development has to be carefully monitored and appropriate measures need to be put in place.
