A Growing Tatmadaw

By Aung Zaw MARCH, 2006 - VOLUME 14 NO.3

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(Page 7 of 10)

The army has additionally acquired significant computer and software supplies from China, Singapore and Israel—which is also believed by Western military analysts to have sold Burma laser-guided bombs.

The Burmese army has traditionally suffered from a lack of logistical readiness and inadequate or outdated military technology, particularly for military operations beyond its borders or to protect from invasion. Apart from infrequent joint training programs with neighboring India, the Burmese army is a largely inexperienced fighting force—although it is well-trained in guerilla warfare.

The exact size of the Burmese army is not known. A recent top secret government document obtained by The Irrawaddy acknowledges that troop strength for all the country’s armed forces is not at full capacity. Western analysts put the figure at 400,000, still a formidable figure as the number of troops has more than doubled since 1988.

With few recent military successes beyond jungle skirmishes against embattled ethnic insurgents, the junta suggested in its latest draft of the national constitution that the country’s armed forces stand to become “strong, modern and the sole existing brilliant and patriotic Tatmadaw.” Clunky rhetoric aside, analysts believe that the junta’s ultimate goal is to transform the army into a modern, well-equipped fighting force capable of repelling sophisticated external adversaries. — Aung Lwin Oo

Air Force

Actions speak louder than words in Burma’s Tatmadaw (armed forces). A military man who pays lip-service to his exploits rather than demonstrating them through his actions is said to be an air force man.

This popular military joke points up the lack of respect generally accorded Burma’s fly boys. Compared to other countries in the region, Burma’s air force has traditionally lacked the training and technical sophistication of its better-equipped neighbors.

The air force can trace its origins back to the United Kingdom’s Burma Act of 1947, which stipulated the terms for Burma’s independence from Britain. In following years, the BAF received assistance from Britain and the US to combat insurgency movements and a growing drug trade.

Successive governments shunned further aid from the West, and the BAF was forced to rely on second-hand and obsolete aircraft—in many cases, modified trainers—that were poorly maintained.

In 1975, the air force received a major boost when the US donated 18 Bell 205A helicopters and seven 206B Jet Ranger aircraft for anti-drugs operations. It was later discovered that the government had, instead, used the helicopters for offensive operations against ethnic insurgent groups.

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