aThe drone flew silently over the Chin Hills in western Myanmar, but the junta had no idea what was about to hit it. The pilot was hiding in dense forest several hundred meters away. As images on the screen showed the drone squad hovering directly over their target, an important military base in the town of Railenpi, they pressed a button on their controllers and bombs began falling. .
“We hit accurately,” said Noah, 20, one of the professional drone fighters of the Chin National Army (CNA), an ethnic rebel group that has been fighting Myanmar's military for almost three years. said. “It surprised them. We killed many people, including the second-in-command of the base.”
After three days of fighting, the rebels raised a tricolor flag over the base and shouted slogans of victory.
The military junta that overthrew the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi and seized power in a coup in February 2021, and the rebels who have been fighting to restore democracy ever since. A place where great changes are taking place, with a bloody war between.
The junta has now lost control of more than 50% of the country, and in Chin state, which borders India, CNA rebels announced they had succeeded in retaking 70% of the state, including five major military bases. are doing.
The secret to recent victories, they say, is a new drone fleet and an army of rebel soldiers, most of whom were once ordinary civilians, who have spent more than a year training to operate them. “Drones have been the key to our success,” said Ram Kul Khun, CNA's deputy general secretary. “Like the attack in Lairenpi, the attack was carried out after months of planning and training.”
During a recent visit to Camp Victoria, the CNA's central headquarters in Chin State, they demonstrated that: observer Vast fleets of thousands of commercial and agricultural drones, also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, were imported primarily from China, but also from Western countries such as the United States, and are being used in areas controlled by military regimes. was used for targeted attacks.
Since the military, known as the Tatmadaw, took power, they have overseen a brutal nationwide crackdown. The soldiers have been accused of arbitrary arrest, torture, mass murder, rape, and abuse, which Human Rights Watch says amounts to crimes against humanity. More than 4,000 civilians are reported to have died in the conflict since the coup.
Until recently, the military had the great advantage of a highly technological air force, which it used to carry out hundreds of deadly airstrikes, often targeting areas of resistance, and killing thousands of people. Died.
But fighter jets are costly for the junta to maintain and operate, and increasingly prove to be no match for the cheap and skillful use of drones by rebel forces against military-held areas. ing.
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun acknowledged that the country had come under heavy attack and that insurgents had used drones to drop hundreds of bombs on military positions.
Indian military officials said most border crossings on the Myanmar side were either held by rebels or under threat. More than 400 Myanmar soldiers have fled across the border into India's Mizoram state in the past two months after rebel attacks.
Drone technology has been so successful in rebel combat that military regimes have also begun using commercial drones to carry out attacks, but to use drones as efficiently as rebel fighters Lack of necessary training.
“The use of drones has caused a tectonic shift on the battlefield in Myanmar,” said Anshuman Chaudhary, an associate fellow at the Delhi-based think tank Center for Policy Research. “Tactical asymmetries between the military and resistance forces have not been completely eliminated, but have been significantly reduced.”
He said the drones have “created a sense of fear among the junta's rank-and-file that they are being closely watched and can be attacked from the air at any time, anywhere. It was unthinkable.”
The CNA is now among the rebel armies with a specialized drone division established more than a year ago, and its infantrymen have learned how to operate the technology primarily through months of operational practice and tutorials on YouTube. is.
“The drone sector is made up of skilled young warriors, some of whom are engineering students and others who have acquired drone knowledge as a hobby,” said CNA Secretary General Ram Kul Khun. “The sector also relies heavily on the internet to improve skills and train more people.”
Kun said the technology had “turned the tide” but added: “Procuring weapons and drones is not easy for us. There is nothing easy in war.”
Commanders said most of the military equipment was coming through the country's borders with China and Thailand, rather than through India, which strictly controls the entry of any weapons.
CNA leadership also attributes the resistance's recent successes to increased coordination and stronger coordination between the various armed ethnic groups fighting the military junta across Myanmar, although in the past The groups did not always work in harmony due to ranking differences and internal conflicts.
In late October, three rebel groups known as the Three Brothers Alliance launched Operation 1027 against military regime forces in Shan State, near the Myanmar-China border. Adding to the national momentum behind the attack, other rebel groups, including the Arakan Army and CNA, supported the operation from their respective regions. Ultimately, the junta's attacks took several towns and more than 100 military achievements.
Last week, the military and a coalition of rebels announced a China-brokered ceasefire along Myanmar's border with China, in what many saw as a sign of the junta's weakening. However, the CNA did not participate in this, commanders said. observer In Chin State they will not abide by this provision.
Every morning, hundreds of new cadets – who undergo just a few months of training before being sent to the front line – take part in a parade at Victoria Camp Headquarters. But while morale was high after a spate of recent victories, nearby graveyards also showed that the battle was still far from easy. More than 20 young combatants killed in recent operations were buried, their tombstones bearing brave words praising their actions in battle.
But as drones open up a new frontier of war for Myanmar's rebels, Sabu, 49, commander of CNA's drone division, feels new confidence in his chances of defeating the junta. He was one of the
“Initially, we were not very good at using it, and we didn't achieve most of our goals in the first year,” he said.
But dedicated training is now paying off, he said, and some of the recent successful ground attacks against the junta were preceded by pre-dawn drone strikes. “Drones are our air force,” Sabu said. “We will win this war against them.”
