The Irrawaddy

 

Anti-junta forces in Myanmar have shot down at least 13 military aircraft since the February 2021 coup, dealing a major blow to the junta’s air power, according to figures compiled from resistance sources and air force defectors.

 

The total value of the downed aircraft is estimated at around US$170 million. These include fighter jets, transport helicopters, and surveillance aircraft, with losses spread across nearly every major conflict zone in the country.

 

Among the most active forces is the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which has claimed responsibility for bringing down five aircraft in Kachin and northern Shan states. In one notable case, the KIA shot down a Russian-made MI-17 helicopter in January 2024, killing six personnel, including two pilots. Drone attacks were reportedly used in several successful ambushes.

 

In Karenni State, resistance groups say they’ve downed four aircraft, including three fighter jets—two Chinese FTC-2000Gs and one K-8W. The most recent strike came on 1 July 2025, when a junta jet was reportedly hit during an attack on a regime base near Hpasawng town.

 

Two aircraft have also been shot down in Sagaing Region, with one F7 fighter jet crashing into a village and killing four civilians. Helicopters were also taken down in Chin and Karen states, including one carrying high-ranking officers in January 2025.

 

Additional aircraft have reportedly been damaged or destroyed in regions including Yangon, Bago, and Rakhine. While The Irrawaddy, which first reported the figures, could not independently verify all incidents, several have been confirmed through videos, photos, and statements from defectors.

 

The junta is also said to have lost around 10 other aircraft to non-combat causes like mechanical failure and severe weather.

 

The resistance’s growing ability to challenge air superiority—largely through shoulder-fired missiles and drone warfare—marks a critical shift in the conflict. Once uncontested in the skies, Myanmar’s military now faces increasing vulnerability in a war it had long expected to dominate from above.

 

-2025-07-08

As long as they don't mistakenly target over flying passenger planes from Bangkok.

That's a good start. Now, let see if they can down 200 generals. That would likely win the war against the vermins.

 

Victory to the people! 

Good news, not only for the Resistance's armed forces, whose assaults on regime camps can be blunted, and occupation after capture thwarted, by air attack.  But above all for civilians whose homes, schools, hospitals, churches and temples are prime targets.

 

But much, much more needs to be done by Western democracies to reduce the indiscriminate killing - sometimes mass killings - of civilians.  By providing effective man-portable anti-aircraft weaponry on a significant scale.  Merely threatening to do so might cause the regime to call off the deliberate targeting of civilians.

 

Currently it seems most weapons that can be used effectively against low-flying aircraft are either obtained on the black-market or by capture from regime forces.  And are none too plentiful.
 
One of the latest aircraft shot down was reportedly hit by heavy machine-gun fire, of presumably .50" Browning or 14 mm Russian calibre.

 

In open country and where low-cloud cover is lacking, the regime's air-force is a much greater threat to troops on the ground.