The Chinese military has sent armed helicopters equipped with air-to-air missiles to Burma’s largest ethnic rebel group the United Wa State Army (UWSA), according to a report published in Jane’s Intelligence Review on Monday.
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China considered using a drone strike in a mountainous region of Southeast Asia to kill a Myanmar drug lord wanted in the killings of 13 Chinese sailors, but decided instead to capture him alive, according to an influential state-run newspaper. (more…)

Burma has denied accusations that it had used chemical weapons against ethnic minority rebels in the northern state of Kachin, where an escalating conflict has overshadowed wider political reforms. (more…)

The Indian Army is insisting that no lethal weapon from its inventory has ever been sold to any foreign country, least of all to Myanmar’s military junta. The Army has been forced to come up with a clarification after a Carl Gustav M3 anti-tank rifle from its inventory turned up with the Myanmarese army recently. (more…)

Officials in Sweden have revealed that Swedish-made weapons used by Burmese troops against Kachin rebels had originally been sold to the Indian government. Selling or passing on such weapons would have been in breach of strict regulations on arms trading. (more…)

Two men from Mae La refugee camp were shot dead in mysterious circumstances last week, according to a Karen News report on Monday, November 12. (more…)

Tak – Thai soldiers on Sunday seized many heavy firearms, including rifles and machine guns, and more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition in Tak’s Mae Sot district, near the Thai-Myanmar border. (more…)

Rangoon – Authorities have ordered people in strife-torn western Myanmar to surrender guns, swords and other weapons to the police within three days or face legal action. (more…)

The government may be serious about making peace with the non-Burman rebels, but the Army is negotiating with Russia for the purchase of unidentified missiles, according to a source close to the diplomatic circle. (more…)

Another round of shooting between a Burma Army unit under the control of Shan State South’s Mongnawng-based Military Operations Command (MOC) #2 and fighters from First Brigade of Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’ that refused Naypyitaw’s order to disarm broke out on Saturday, 18 December, according to local sources. (more…)

Many minor Wikileaks scoops have attracted media notice—like the fact that Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi apparently always travels with a buxom Ukrainian “nurse”—but one frightening disclosure in particular has not received nearly enough attention. In several cables written from the U.S. embassy in Rangoon, the largest city (and former capital) of Burma, diplomats provided information about the Burmese junta’s potential cooperation with North Korea, including details of what may be nascent nuclear and missile programs. (more…)

Democratic Karen Buddhist Army’s (DKBA) battalion 902 commander Colonel Kyaw Thet in Hpalu village, where fighting recently broke out with the government, said the group will commence guerrilla warfare in “every township” if the SPDC continues its offensive against the renegade DKBA faction. (more…)

A battalion of regular troops from the rebel Karen National Union (KNU) on Dec. 11 launched a short attack on the Burmese army in Manerplaw, and have remained active in the area. Manerplaw was the headquarters of the KNU from 1948 until it fell into Burmese army hands in 1995. (more…)

Most of the ruling Burma Army radar stations are said to be installed with Russian-made 1L117s, according to Thai Burma watchers. (more…)

Burma’s air force relies heavily on Chinese weapons. A handful of Russian MiG-29s will grow to 30 in the wake of a 2009 order, but the rest of its fighter fleet is made up of Chinese MiG-21 (60 J-7s) and MiG-19 (12 J-6 and 36 Q-5) variants. Reports indicate that they are supported by about 6 Serbian Super Galeb trainer/ light attack jets, and 17 Swiss Pilatus PC-6/7/9 turboprop trainers that have been armed for counterinsurgency. (more…)

Dhaka: The Bangladesh military authority confiscated 183 sophisticated weapons and 24,144 rounds of ammunition from areas near the Burma border during last year. (more…)

Over 200 more military trucks have arrived in the town of Ruili on the China-Burma border, the latest consignment of the 3500 trucks to be sent to the Burmese junta by the Chinese government. (more…)

The Mizoram police arrested a Burmese arms dealer on Saturday for alleged links with Northeast armed groups in India . Arms and ammunition were seized from him. (more…)

China has delivered 80 FAW transport trucks to police grounds on the outskirts of Yangon in what may be an effort to beef up preparations for more protests, witnesses said Thursday. (more…)

North Korea has been selling multiple rocket launchers to military-ruled Burma since the two countries restored ties last year in violation of UN sanctions, Japan’s NHK public broadcaster reported. (more…)