Myanmar Junta Chief Vows to Escalate Air Campaign Using New Russian and Chinese Jets
The leader of Myanmar’s military junta, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, has declared air power as the “key factor” in winning the country’s ongoing civil war, signaling a major escalation in an aerial campaign that has been widely condemned for targeting civilians.
Speaking at a ceremony in Meiktila, the General confirmed the addition of advanced aircraft to the air force’s fleet, including Russian-made Su-30 SME multi-role fighters and Chinese FTC-2000G combat jets. Political analysts warn that this public declaration is an open admission that the military intends to intensify the destruction of civilian lives and property from the skies.
While Min Aung Hlaing boasted that superior technology would allow for “precise strikes” on enemy targets, observers point to a starkly different reality on the ground. Schools, hospitals, and religious buildings have increasingly become the primary targets of the military’s air operations.
“The deployment of multi-role fighters like the Su-30 allows for more powerful bombs to be dropped with greater range and accuracy,” a military hardware expert told the Myanmar Pressphoto Agency (MPA). “Facing significant losses on the ground, the junta is using air power to instill terror among the population”.
During his address, the junta leader urged members of the air force to maintain “patriotism,” a sentiment that critics argue is entirely at odds with their actions. Analysts have questioned how personnel claiming to love their country can drop high-explosive ordinance on innocent children and mother
“This is an overt commission of war crimes,” one political observer remarked. “No other military in the world bombs its own citizens with such indiscriminate brutality. By ignoring international outcries and continuing to buy weapons from China and Russia, the military is doubling down on its oppression of the people”.
For the millions displaced by the conflict, the sound of an aircraft has become a harbinger of death. “Whenever we hear a plane in the sky, we don’t know where to run,” said one displaced civilian. “Dropping bombs on our homes and schools is the same as hunting us down to kill us. These are atrocities we can never forget”.
Legal experts further point out that the junta’s strategy of turning residential neighbourhoods into “killing fields” from the air likely constitutes crimes against humanity.
As the casualty rates among non-combatants continue to soar, the acquisition of new foreign-made jets is seen not as a path toward stability, but as a precursor to a even more violent chapter in Myanmar’s post-coup crisis.
The leader of Myanmar’s military junta, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, has declared air power as the “key factor” in winning the country’s ongoing civil war, signaling a major escalation in an aerial campaign that has been widely condemned for targeting civilians.
Speaking at a ceremony in Meiktila, the General confirmed the addition of advanced aircraft to the air force’s fleet, including Russian-made Su-30 SME multi-role fighters and Chinese FTC-2000G combat jets. Political analysts warn that this public declaration is an open admission that the military intends to intensify the destruction of civilian lives and property from the skies.
While Min Aung Hlaing boasted that superior technology would allow for “precise strikes” on enemy targets, observers point to a starkly different reality on the ground. Schools, hospitals, and religious buildings have increasingly become the primary targets of the military’s air operations.
“The deployment of multi-role fighters like the Su-30 allows for more powerful bombs to be dropped with greater range and accuracy,” a military hardware expert told the Myanmar Pressphoto Agency (MPA). “Facing significant losses on the ground, the junta is using air power to instill terror among the population”.
During his address, the junta leader urged members of the air force to maintain “patriotism,” a sentiment that critics argue is entirely at odds with their actions. Analysts have questioned how personnel claiming to love their country can drop high-explosive ordinance on innocent children and mothers.
“This is an overt commission of war crimes,” one political observer remarked. “No other military in the world bombs its own citizens with such indiscriminate brutality. By ignoring international outcries and continuing to buy weapons from China and Russia, the military is doubling down on its oppression of the people”.
For the millions displaced by the conflict, the sound of an aircraft has become a harbinger of death. “Whenever we hear a plane in the sky, we don’t know where to run,” said one displaced civilian. “Dropping bombs on our homes and schools is the same as hunting us down to kill us. These are atrocities we can never forget”.
Legal experts further point out that the junta’s strategy of turning residential neighbourhoods into “killing fields” from the air likely constitutes crimes against humanity.
As the casualty rates among non-combatants continue to soar, the acquisition of new foreign-made jets is seen not as a path toward stability, but as a precursor to a even more violent chapter in Myanmar’s post-coup crisis.
