DTN News: Burma's Military Junta Buys 230 Military Aircraft In 21 Years

DTN News: Burma's Military Junta Buys 230 Military Aircraft In 21 Years

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) BANGKOK, Thailand - December 26, 2009: With its recent purchase of 20 MiG-29 fighter jets, Burma's military junta has acquired a total of 230 military aircraft since seizing power in a bloody coup in 1988—nearly 100 more than the regime of former dictator Ne Win. In his book “Building the Tatmadaw,” Burmese military expert Maung Aung Myoe writes that the junta procured 210 aircraft for the Tatamdaw-Lay [air force] between 1988 and 2006, supplied by China, Poland, Russia and the former Yugoslavia. A Russian-made MiG-29 jet fighter takes off from Mingaladon Air Force Base in Rangoon in 2008. (Photo: Andy Davey)

By comparison, from 1962 to 1988—the 26-year period that Burma was ruled by Ne Win's Burmese Social Programme Party—the air force acquired 131 military aircraft. With the 20 MiG-29s it recently bought from Russia for US $570 million, Burma appears to be continuing its ongoing efforts to close the gap with its much better-equipped neighbors. In 2001, the regime purchased 12 MiG-29s after a border clash with Thailand in which the Thai military forced Burmese troops from border strongholds using US-made F-16 fighter jets. Thailand's air force currently has an estimated 315 aircraft, including 184 combat aircraft. It has also ordered more advanced 12 JAS 39 Gripen aircraft from Sweden. Another Southeast Asian nation, Vietnam, recently signed a billion-dollar deal with Russia for the purchase of Sukhoi Su-30MK2s and a submarine. Bangladesh, a neighbor that has tension with Burma over a territorial dispute in the Bay of Bengal, is estimated to have more than 200 military aircraft, including MiG-29 SEs. Burma's latest batch of MiG-29s from Russia were purchased after the regime rejected an offer of a special price on J-10 fighter jets from its close ally, China. Lt-Gen Myat Hein, commander in chief of Burma's air force, (left) meets Chinese President Hu Jintao in Beijing on November 6, 2009.

According to Burmese military sources, the commander in chief of Burma’s air force, Lt-Gen Myat Hein, traveled to China in November to discuss upgrades of Chinese-made military aircraft already owned by Burma and to look into the possibility of making future purchases. However, the junta finally decided to buy the Russian planes, despite concerns about their reliability after frequent reports of MiG-29s being grounded in Russia and other countries. A fourth-generation military aircraft, the MiG-29 was first produced in the Soviet Union in 1983. The cost of the jets was also no deterrent, despite the fact that Burma remains one of the world's poorest countries. Around a third of the country's population live under the international poverty line, earning less than a dollar a day, according to UN figures. But even with its ruling generals sparing no expense in their pursuit of a more powerful air force, Burma is likely to remain behind its neighbors. “Compared with the air forces of neighboring countries, particularly Thailand’s, the Tatmadaw-Lay’s air power is relatively low,” wrote Maung Aung Myoe in his book. “Although it has acquired advanced aircraft such as the MiG-29, it has problems with operational capability, in addition to lacking qualified pilots.”