As a neighbor of China, Myanmar has gradually become well-known to the Chinese people in the past two years because of the scuffle between electric fraud and warlord forces.
[Myanmar's warlord power is huge]
Many people have found that the local armed forces involved in the conflict have used a large number of Chinese weapons, including assault rifles, combat equipment, standard camouflage, and so on.
In fact, the local armed forces in Myanmar are relatively easy to distinguish, but it is the Burmese government army that is really familiar to the Chinese people.
If you don't look at the armband, it is likely to be seen as the PLA.
The Burmese army, which is heavily influenced by China
Myanmar has been an important exporter of Chinese weapons and equipment over the years, and it covers a wide range of types of equipment, including light and heavy weapons.
【Burmese Government Army】
The Myanmar Army is equipped with 69-II medium tanks, WMA-301 assault guns, SH-1 truck guns, etc., while the Myanmar Air Force is equipped with J-7 fighters, JF-17 Thunder fighters, Y-8/12 transport aircraft, and K-8 trainer aircraft.
There are also a large number of Chinese models of light weapons in the Myanmar army, including Type 56 submachine guns, 81-1 automatic rifles, Type 97 assault rifles, and so on.
During the 2019 military parade in Myanmar, the appearance of the participating troops made the outside world exclaim where the PLA came from, the camouflage style of the Burmese army is highly similar to the PLA's Type 07 digital camouflage, and it also uses color to distinguish different military branches.
【Burmese Government Army】
On his head is a replica of the Type 03 Kevlar helmet, and some people say that this is the Type 03 helmet purchased in Myanmar. What's even more special is that the Burmese troops participating in the exercise are all armed with Type 97 rifles, and if you don't look carefully, you will really think that they are the People's Liberation Army with Type 95.
However, some military experts soon pointed out that the rifle that Myanmar is equipped with is not the regular Type 97, but the EMER K-1 automatic rifle produced by Myanmar itself.
A closer look at the two weapons shows that although the K-1 rifle has a similar stockless configuration and body design as the Type 97, the details are completely different.
[Burmese K-1 rifle]
Moreover, the K-1 rifle magazine is similar to the AUG rifle produced by the Austrian company Steyr, and the surface is covered with stiffeners, while the Type 97 of the mainland generally uses the 4197STANAG standard magazine.
In fact, the birth of the K-1 rifle is indeed related to the Type 97 rifle, which is also the same as the military construction of Myanmar, which is deeply influenced by China, and Myanmar has introduced a batch of Type 97 automatic rifles for its special forces in small batches.
Officers and soldiers spoke highly of this rifle, and Myanmar pondered the idea of producing the Type 97 on its own and equipping it with the whole army, and the local EMER light weapons factory in Myanmar undertook this production task.
[Burmese K-1 rifle]
Myanmar has great ambitions to develop small arms, and EMER did not copy the Type 97, but incorporated some Western stockless rifle design concepts, such as the British SA80 and the Austrian Steyr AUG.
But in the end, the actual performance of the K-1 rifle is not flattering, compared to the original Type 97 rifle, the accuracy and reliability of the K-1 are much worse, so the army does not like this Burmese domestic weapon, and it will only be unveiled at military parades.
An important arms exporter to China
In the early years, Myanmar purchased Chinese weapons mainly because of their cheap price and reliable performance.
【Burmese Army Type 97 Rifle】
The Myanmar Air Force is a loyal user of the J-7 fighter family on the mainland, yes air power.
On the one hand, the technical level of this fighter can meet the national defense needs of Myanmar, and the air force level of its neighboring countries is not high, and the relatively low-end fighters such as J-7 and FTC-2000G have been able to meet the demand.
Moreover, the price of this fighter is very cheap, and the maintenance standard is relatively low, which is very suitable for countries with a low degree of military modernization, similar products from other countries, and the cheap ones are not as advanced as the Chinese fighters, and the advanced ones are not so cheap.
【缅甸歼 LA】
In response to neighboring countries such as Vietnam equipped with fourth-generation fighters, Myanmar has also purchased 16 Thunder BLCOK2 multi-role light fighters, making it the second country after Pakistan to be equipped with such fighters.
Although the positioning of the Thunder Dragon is similar to that of the J-7 of the year, the technical level is quite advanced, and the latest BLCOK3 can basically get the threshold of the fourth-generation and a half fighters, and even made the top F-15 and F-16 of the local tyrants suffer a lot of losses in the Middle East.
Through the equipment of these three generations of Chinese fighters, Myanmar has actually formed the habit of using Chinese weapons, and the degree of mechanization will inevitably be further developed to achieve further coverage of land, sea and air.
【Burmese Army Dragon】
Since it has learned from China in terms of the military system, it is not surprising that the Burmese army looks like the People's Liberation Army, and comprehensive Sino-Chinese is a development direction of the Burmese army.
In the past, whether it was Western or Russian weapons, they were penny-for-penny, or even penny-and-a-half, and if you want to get technologically advanced models, you can only pay a lot of real money.
For example, the unit price of the American-made F-15SA fighter purchased by Saudi Arabia is as high as 300 million US dollars, which is several times that of the Thunder.
Saudi F-15
Even relatively inexpensive Russian-made weapons are actually not cheap, and the unit price of the Su-30MK2 fighters purchased by the Vietnamese Air Force from Russia is also more than 35 million US dollars.
BUT CHINESE WEAPONS PROVIDE THESE SMALL COUNTRIES WITH THE POSSIBILITY TO DO BIG THINGS WITH LITTLE MONEY, EVEN THE LATEST THUNDER DRAGON BLOCK3, THE UNIT PRICE IS ONLY $25 MILLION, WHICH IS DEFINITELY THE CHEAPEST FOURTH-GENERATION AND A HALF FIGHTERS IN THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET.
Moreover, unlike the United States and Russia, China's arms purchases do not have many political considerations, and as long as they are friendly to China and respect the position of the Chinese government, they can negotiate deals with China.
【Burmese Dragon】
The fundamental survival of a small country is to rely on a big tree to enjoy the shade, but at the same time, it is also necessary to be vigilant against the infiltration and control of itself by a large country.
China can make it much easier for these small countries to get back and forth, which is an important reason why Myanmar is willing to choose China for its military development.
Sources:
[1] A picture to understand: what is the strength of the Myanmar National Defense Force that "took over power" overnight?.The Paper [Citation date: 2021-02-02]
[2] The formation of the Burmese government army originated from World War II and was the main force in domestic political life.chinanews.2013-01-24 [Citation date:2021-04-25]