Myanmar’s resistance fighters made decisive breakthroughs last year by relying on a dispersed drone fleet in battles against one of Southeast Asia’s most feared militaries.
But as the civil war rages on, the rebels are increasingly finding their trusted weapons — Chinese-made commercial drones modified to carry weapons — in the unknown hands of the country’s ruling junta, according to seven people with knowledge of the matter.
“The battle is now changing as drones are 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 said the junta began using armed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to attack the rebels around the turn of the year, and that a drone his unit recently shot down had been identified as Chinese based on its components and had been modified for combat. Two rebel fighters in other parts of Myanmar also described similar clashes.
