"‘Made in China’: Inside the Myanmar Junta’s Intensifying Drone Offensive" 3 March 2025

Since late 2014, Myanmar’s military regime has deployed large numbers of drones in key front-line battlefields such as Kachin State’s Bhamo, Shan State’s Taunghkam, and the Asia Highway between Karen State’s Myawaddy and Kawkareik, inflicting heavy casualties on resistance forces and civilians.

Recently, the regime has used drones to attack areas controlled by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), including its stronghold of Laiza...KIA spokesperson Colonel Naw Bu told The Irrawaddy that the regime is using various types of advanced drones in the battle for Bhamo...

Junta drone units are now attached to almost all strategic hill-top bases and mobile columns, targeting both military and civilian targets...

While resistance leaders say the regime is using both Chinese and Russian drones, information obtained by The Irrawaddy indicates that most drones deployed by the regime are Chinese-made VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) models. The regime is also increasingly using China-made agricultural drones for reconnaissance and bombing missions.

Support from China also extends to training...Beijing has provided training in arms manufacturing to Myanmar military engineers and senior non-commissioned officers after they graduated from technical schools.

Data salvaged from a drone captured from regime forces showed it was first tested and flown in Tianjin, China...

While The Irrawaddy could not independently verify whether the Chinese government is providing the training, drones used by the regime are of Chinese origin...

...The Chinese government denied selling the drones directly to the regime and suggested that they might have been purchased through an intermediary country.