Myanmar Army

The Myanmar Army (Burmese: တပ်မတော် (ကြည်း), pronounced [taʔmədɔ̀ tɕí]) is the land component of the Military of Myanmar. The Myanmar Army is the largest branch of the Armed Forces of Myanmar and has the primary responsibility of conducting land-based military operations. The Myanmar Army maintains the second largest active force in Southeast Asia after Vietnam's Vietnam People's Army.(Ranked 9th

The Myanmar Army has a troop strength around 492,000. The army has extensive combat experience in fighting insurgents in rough terrains, considering it has been conducting non-stop counter-insurgency operations against ethnic and political insurgents since its inception in 1948.

The force is headed by the Commander in Chief (Army), currently Vice Senior General Maung Aye. The highest rank in the Myanmar Army is Senior General, equivalent to Field Marshal position in Western Armies and is currently held by Senior General Than Shwe. The defence budget of the Myanmar Military is 7.07 billion US dollars.

In 2011, following transition from military junta government to a military - sponsored palimentary government, the Myanmar Army enacted a military draft for all citizens ,all males from 18 to 35 and all females between 18 and 27 years of age can be drafted into military service for two years as enlisted personal. The ages for professionals are up to 45 for men and 35 for women for three years service as commissioned and non commissioned officers. This new scheme is not only meant for emergency situation because they all could be called again when emergency arises.

Structure of Myanmar Army

The Army has always been by far the largest service in Myanmar and has always received the lion's share of the defence budget. It has played the most prominent part in Myanmar's struggle against the 40 or more insurgent groups since 1948 and acquired a reputation as a tough and resourceful military force. In 1981, it was described as 'probably the best [army] in Southeast Asia, apart from Vietnam's'. The judgement was echoed in 1983, when another observer noted that "Myanmar's infantry is generally rated as one of the toughest, most combat seasoned in Southeast Asia". In 1985, a foreign journalist with the rare experience of seeing Burmese soldiers in action against ethnic insurgents and narco-armies was 'thoroughly impressed by their fighting skills, endurance and discipline'. Other commentators throughout that time characterised the Myanmar Army as 'the toughest, most effective light infantry jungle force now operating in Southeast Asia'. Even the Thais, not known to praise the Burmese lightly, have described the Myanmar Army as 'skilled in the art of jungle warfare'. However, due to dwindling recruitment, the military junta has been forcing enlistment of child soldiers into the army's ranks. According to human rights groups, the Myanmar Army has the world's largest number of child soldiers.

Expansion

101st LID

The first army division to be formed after the 1988 military coup was the 11th Light Infantry Division (LID) in December 1988 with Col. Win Myint as commander of the division. In March 1990, a new regional military command was opened in Monywa with Brigadier Kyaw Min as commander and named North-Western RMC. A year later 101st LID was formed in Pakokku with Col. Saw Tun as commander. Two Regional Operations Commands (ROC) were formed in Myeik and Loikaw to facilitate command and control. They were commanded respectively by Brigadier Soe Tint and Brigadier Maung Kyi. March 1995 saw a dramatic expansion of the Tatmadaw as it established 11 Military Operations Commands (MOC)s in that month. MOC are similar to Mechanized Infantry Divisions in western armies, each with 10 regular infantry battalions (Chay Hlyin Tatyin), a headquarters, and organic support units including field artillery batteries. Then in 1996, two new RMC were opened, Coastal Region RMC was opened in Myeik with Brigadier Sit Maung as commander and Triangle Region RMC in Kengtung with Brigadier Thein Sein as commander. Their new ROCs were opened in Kalay, Bhamo and Mongsat. In late 1998, two new MOCs were opened in Bokepyin and Mongsat.

The most significant expansion after the infantry in the army was in armour and artillery. Beginning in 1990, the Tatmadaw procured 18 T-69II tanks and 48 T-63 amphibious light tanks from China. Further procurements were made, including several hundred Type 85 and Type 92 armoured personnel carriers (APC). By the beginning of 1998, Tatmadaw had about 100+ T-68II main battle tanks, a similar number of T-63 amphibious light tanks and several T-59D tanks. These tanks and armoured personnel carriers were distributed into five armoured infantry battalions and five tank battalions and formed the first Armoured Division of the Tatmadaw under the name of 71st Armoured Operations Command with its headquarters in Pyawbwe.

Organization

By 2000, the Myanmar Army had reached some 370,000 all ranks. There were 337 infantry battalions, including 266 light infantry battalions. Although the Myanmar Army's organisational structure was based upon the regimental system, the basic manoeuvre and fighting unit is the battalion, known as Tat Yin in Burmese, which comprised a headquarters unit; four rifle companies (tat khwe) with three rifle platoons (Tat Su) each; an administration company with medical, transport, logistics and signals units; a heavy weapons company including mortar, machine gun and recoilless gun platoons. Each battalion is commanded a Lieutenant Colonel (du bo hmu gyi) with a Major (bo hmu) as 2IC (Second in Command), with a total establishment strength of 27 officers and 723 other ranks. Light infantry battalions in Myanmar Army have much lower establishment strength of around 500; as a result this often leads to these units being mistakenly identified by the observers and reporters as under strength infantry battalions.

With its significantly increased personnel numbers, weaponry and mobility, today's Tatmadaw Kyee is a formidable conventional defence force for the Union of Myanmar. Troops ready for combat duty have at least doubled since 1988. Logistics infrastructure and Artillery Fire Support has been greatly increased. Its newly acquired military might was apparent in the Tatmadaw's dry season operations against Karen National Union (KNU) strongholds in Manerplaw and Kawmura. Most of the casualties at these battles were the result of intense and heavy bombardment by the Tatmadaw Kyee. Not only that Tatmadaw Kyee is now much larger than it was in pre-1988, it is more mobile and has greatly improved armour, artillery and air defence inventories. Its C3I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence) systems have been expanded and refined. It is developing larger and more integrated, self-sustained formations which should lend themselves to better coordinated action by different combat arms. The army may still have relatively modest weaponry compared to its larger neighbours, but it is now in a much better position to deter external aggression and respond to such a threat should it ever arise except child soldiers may not perform very well in combating with enemies.

Chief of Staff / Commander in Chief (Army)

Up until 1990, Myanmar Armed Forces has Chief of Staff system and Myanmar Army was led by Vice Chief of Staff (Army). A new system was introduced in 1990 during Armed Forces reorganisation and all three branches of Armed Forces are now led by Commander-in-Chief.

Name & Rank	Date	Notes
Brig. General Saw Kyar Doe	1948	Karen Officer, Forced to retire due to civil war with Karen
Brig. General Ne Win	1948 - 1949	Member of Thirty Comrades, Later became President and Chairman of Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP)
Brig. General Aung Gyi	1956 - 1963
Brig. General San Yu	1963 - 1972	Later became President
Brig. General Thura Tin Oo	1972 - 1974	Dismissed and imprisoned for involvement in coup attempt, later became Vice-Chairman of National League for Democracy
Brig. General Thura Kyaw Htin	1974 - 1976
Brig. General Aye Ko	1976 – 1981
Lt. General Tun Ye	1981 - 1983
Lt. General Saw Maung	1983 - 1985
Lt. General Than Shwe	1985 - 1992	later promoted to Senior General and Chairman of SPDC
Lt. General Maung Aye	1993 -	later promoted to Vice Senior General

Bureau of Special Operations (BSO)

Bureau of Special Operations

Bureau of Special Operations in Myanmar Army are high-level field units equivalent to Field Army Group in Western terms and consist of 2 or more Regional Military Commands (RMC) and commanded by a Lieutenant-General and 6 staff officers. Currently there are five Bureaus of Special Operations in Myanmar order of Battle.

Bureau of Special Operations	Regional Military Commands (RMC)
Bureau of Special Operations 1	Central Command North Western Command Northern Command
Bureau of Special Operations 2	North Eastern Command Eastern Command Triangle Region Command
Bureau of Special Operations 3	South Western Command Southern Command Western Command
Bureau of Special Operations 4	Coastal Command South Eastern Command
Bureau of Special Operations 5	Yangon Command
Bureau of Special Operations 6	Naypyidaw Command

Regional Military Commands (RMC)

Northern Command

File:Mm-northeastern-rmc.jpg

North Eastern Region Command

File:Mm-eastern-rmc.jpg

Eastern Command

File:Mm-sagaing-rmc.jpg

North Western Region Command

Yangon Regional Command

For better command and communication, the Tatmadaw formed Regional Military Commands (Tine Sit Htar Na Choke, Burmese: တုိင္းစစ္ဌာခ်ဳပ္) structure in 1958. Until 1961, there were only two regional commands, they were supported by 13 Infantry brigades and an infantry division. In October 1961, new regional military commands were opened and leaving only two independant infantry brigades. In June 1963, the Naypyidaw Command was temporarily formed in Yangon with the deputy commander and some staff officers drawn from Central Command. It was reorganised and renamed as Yangon Command on 1 June 1965.

A total of 337 infantry and light infantry battalions organised in Tactical Operations Commands, 37 independent field artillery regiments supported by affiliated support units including armoured reconnaissance and tank battalions. RMCs are similar to corps formations in Western armies. The RMCs, commanded by Major General rank officer, are managed through a framework of Bureau of Special Operations (BSOs), which are equivalent to Field Army Group in Western terms.

Regional Military Command (RMC)	States & Divisions	Headquarters	Strength
Northern Command (မြောက်ပိုင်းတိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ်)	Kachin State	Myitkyina	33 Infantry Battalions
North Eastern Command (အရှေ့မြောက်ပိုင်းတိုင်း စစ်ဌာနချုပ်)	Northern Shan State	Lashio	30 Infantry Battalions
Eastern Command (အရှေ့ပိုင်းတိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ်)	Southern Shan State	Taunggyi	42 Infantry Battalions including 16× Light Infantry Battalions under Regional Operation Command (ROC) Headquarters at Loikaw
South Eastern Command (အရှေ့တောင်ပိုင်းတိုင်း စစ်ဌာနချုပ်)	Mon and Kayin (Karen) States	Mawlamyaing (Moulmein)	36 Infantry Battalions
Southern Command (တောင်ပိုင်းတိုင်း စစ်ဌာနချုပ်)	Bago and Magwe Divisions	Toungoo	27 × Infantry Battalions
South Western Command (အနောက်တောင်ပိုင်းတိုင်း စစ်ဌာနချုပ်)	Ayeyarwady Division (Irrawaddy Division)	Pathein (Bassein)	11 × Infantry Battalions
Western Command (အနောက်ပိုင်းတိုင်း စစ်ဌာနချုပ်)	Rakhine (Arakan) and Chin States	Ann	33 × Infantry Battalions
North Western Command (အနောက်မြောက်ပိုင်းတိုင်း စစ်ဌာနချုပ်)	Sagaing Division	Monywa	25 × Infantry Battalions
Yangon Command (ရန်ကုန်တိုင်း စစ်ဌာနချုပ်)	Yangon Division	Mayangone Township-Kone-Myint-Thar	12 × Infantry Battalions
Coastal Region Command (ကမ်းရိုးတန်းတိုင်း စစ်ဌာနချုပ်)	Tanintharyi Division (Tenassarim Division)	Myeik (Mergui)	43 Infantry Battalions including battalions under 2 MOC based at Tavoy
Triangle Region Command (တြိဂံတိုင်း စစ်ဌာနချုပ်)	Eastern Shan State	Kyaingtong (Kengtung)	28 Infantry Battalions
Central Command (အလယ်ပိုင်းတိုင်း စစ်ဌာနချုပ်)	Mandalay Division	Mandalay	17 Infantry Battalions
Naypyidaw Command (နေပြည်တော်တိုင်း စစ်ဌာနချုပ်)	Naypyidaw	Pyinmana	Formed in 2006 - ? × Infantry Battalions

Current Commanders of Regional Military Commands

Regional Military Command (RMC)	Commander Name and Rank
Naypyidaw Command	Major General Maung Maung Aye
Eastern Command	Major General San Oo
North Eastern Command	Major General Aung Kyaw Zaw
South Eastern Command	Major General Htun Nay Lin
Central Command	Major General Ye Aung
Western Command	Major General Soe Thein
North Western Command	Major General Soe Lwin
South Western Command	Major General Tin Maung Win
Northern Command	Major General Zay Yar Aung
Southern Command	Major General Soe Htut
Traingle Region Command	Major General Than Tun Oo
Coastal Region Command	Major General Khin Maung Htay
Yangon Command	Major General Tun Than

Regional Operations Commands (ROC - Da Ka Sa)

Coastal Region Command

Regional Operations Commands (ROC, or Da Ka Sa) are commanded by a Brigadier General, are similar to infantry brigades in Western Armies. Each consists of 4 Infantry battalions (Chay Hlyin Tatyin), HQ and organic support units. Commander of ROC is a position between LID/MOC commander and tactical Operation Command (TOC) commander, who commands only three infantry battalions. However, ROC commander enjoys financial, administrative and judicial authority while the MOC and LID commander does not have judicial authority.

Regional Operation Command (ROC)	Headquarters	Notes
Loikaw Regional Operations Command	Loikaw
Laukai Regional Operations Command	Laukai
Kalay Regional Operations Command	Kalay
Sittwe Regional Operations Command	Sittwe
Pyay Regional Operations Command	Pyay
Tanaing Regional Operations Command	Tanaing	Formerly ROC Bahmaw
Wanhseng Regional Operations Command	Wanhseng	Formed in 2011

Military Operations Commands (MOC)

Triangle Region Command

Central Command

Military Operations Commands (MOC, or Sa Ka Kha, Burmese: စစ္ဆင္ေရး ကြပ္ကဲမႈ စစ္ဌာနခ်ဳပ္), commanded by a Brigadier-General, are similar to Infantry divisions in Western Armies. Each consists of 10 Infantry battalions (Chay Hlyin Tatyin), Headquarters and organic support units including field artillery batteries. MOC are equivlent to Light Infantry Division (LID) as both command 10 infantry battalions through three TOC (Tatical Operations Command).

Military Operation Command (MOC)	Headquarters	Notes
1st Military Operations Command (MOC-1)	Kyaukme ေက်ာက္မဲ, Shan State
2nd Military Operations Command (MOC-2)	Mong Nawng မိုင္းေနာင္, Shan State
3rd Military Operations Command (MOC-3)	Mogaung မိုးေကာင္း, Kachin State
4th Military Operations Command (MOC-4)	Phugyi ဖူးႀကီး, Yangon Division	Designated Airborne Division
5th Military Operations Command (MOC-5)	Taung-gup ေတာင္ကုတ္, Rakhine State
6th Military Operations Command (MOC-6)	Pyinmana ပ်ဥ္းမနား, Mandalay Division
7th Military Operations Command (MOC-7)	Phekon ဖယ္ခံု, Shan State
8th Military Operations Command (MOC-8)	Dawei ထား၀ယ္, Tanintharyi Division
9th Military Operations Command (MOC-9)	Kyauktaw ေက်ာက္ေတာ္, Rakhine State
10th Military Operations Command (MOC-10)	Kyeekone ႀကီးကုုန္း, Sagaing Division
11th Military Operations Command (MOC-11)	Loilin , Shan State
12th Military Operations Command (MOC-12)	Kawkareik ေကာ့ကရိတ္, Kayin State
13th Military Operations Command (MOC-13)	Bokpyin ဘုတ္ျပင္း, Tanintharyi Division
14th Military Operations Command (MOC-14)	Mongsat မိုင္းဆတ္, Shan State
15th Military Operations Command (MOC-15)	Buthidaung ဘူးသီးေတာင္, Rakhine State
16th Military Operations Command (MOC-16)	Theinni သိႏီၵ, Shan State
17th Military Operations Command (MOC-17)	Mongpan မိုင္းပန္, Shan State
18th Military Operations Command (MOC-18)	Mong-hpyat မိုင္းျဖတ္, Shan State
19th Military Operations Command (MOC-19)	Ye ေရး, Mon State
20th Military Operations Command (MOC-20)	Kawthaung ေကာ့ေသာင္း, Tanintharyi Division
21st Military Operations Command (MOC-21)	Bhamo ဗန္းေမာ္, Kachin State

Light Infantry Divisions (LID)

File:Mm-lid-99.jpg

99th LID

File:Mm-lid-44.jpg

44th LID

File:Mm-lid-55.jpg

55th LID

22nd LID

File:Mm-lid-11.jpg

11th LID

Light Infantry Division (Chay Myan Tat Ma), commanded by a Brigadier-General, each with 10 Light Infantry Battalions organised under 3 Tactical Operations Commands, commanded by a Colonel, (3 battalions each and 1 reserve), 1 Field Artillery Battalion, 1 Armour Squadron and other support units.

These divisions were first introduced to the Myanmar Army in 1966 as rapid reaction mobile forces for strike operations. 77th Light Infantry Division was formed on 6 June 1966, followed by 88th Light Infantry Division and 99th Light Infantry Division in the two following years. 77th LID was largely responsible for the defeat of the Communist forces of the CPB (Communist Party of Burma) based in the forested hills of the central Bago Yoma in the mid 1970s. Three more LIDs were raised in the latter half of 1970s (the 66th, 55th and 44th) with their headquarters at Pyay, Aungban and Thaton. They were followed by another two LIDs in the period prior to the 1988 military coup (the 33rd LID with headquarters at Sagaing and the 22nd LID with headquarters at Hpa-An). 11th LID was formed in December 1988 with headquarters at Inndine, Bago Division and 101st LID was formed in 1991 with its headquarters at Pakokku.

Each LID, commanded by Brigadier General (Bo hmu gyoke) level officers, consists of 10 light infantry battalions specially trained in counter-insurgency, jungle warfare, "search and destroy" operations against ethnic insurgents and narcotics-based armies. These Battalions are organised under three Tactical Operations Commands (TOC; Nee byu har). Each TOC, commanded by a Colonel (Bo hmu gyi), is made up of three or more combat Battalions, with command and support elements similar to that of brigades in Western armies. One infantry battalion was held in reserve. As of 2000, all LID have their own organic Field Artillery units. For example, 314th Field Artillery Battery is now attached to 44th LID. Some of the LID battalions have been given Parachute and Air Borne Operations training and two of the LIDs have been converted to mechanised infantry formation with divisional artillery, armoured reconnaissance and tank battalions

LIDs are considered to be a strategic asset of the Myanmar Army, and after the 1990 reorganisation and restructuring of the Tatmadaw command structure, they are now directly answerable to Chief of Staff (Army).

Light Infantry Division (LID)	Year formed	Headquarters	First Commander	Current Commander	Notes
11th LID	1988	Inndine, Bago Division	Col. Win Myint
22nd LID	1987	Hpa-An	Col. Tin Hla		Invovled in crackdown of unarmed protestors during 8.8.88 democracy uprising
33rd LID	1984	Sagaing	Col. Kyaw Ba
44th LID	1979	Thaton	Col. Myat Thin
55th LID	1980	Sagaing/Kalaw	Col. Phone Myint
66th LID	1976	Pyay	Col. Taung Zar Khaing
77th LID	1966	Hmawbi, Bago Division	Col. Tint Swe
88th LID	1967	Magway	Col. Than Tin
99th LID	1968	Meiktila	Col. Kyaw Htin
101st LID	1991	Pakokku	Col. Saw Tun

Artillery and Armoured Units

707th Artillery Operation Command

File:Mm-artillery3.jpg

Artillery Operation Command

File:Mm-armour2.jpg

Armoured Operation Command

Armoured Operation Command

Artillery and Armoured units were not used in an independent role, but were deployed in support of the Infantry by the Ministry of Defence as required. The Directorate of Artillery and Armour Corps was also divided into separate corps in 2001. A dramatic expansion of forces under these directorates followed with the equipment procured from China, Russia, Ukraine and India.

As of 2000, the Armour and Artillery wing of the Tatmadaw has about 60 Battalions and 37 independent Artillery companies/batteries attached to various Regional Military Commands (RMC), Light Infantry Divisions (LID), Military Operation Command (MOC) and Regional Operation Command (ROC)s. For example, 314th Field Artillery Battery is under 44th LID, 326 Field Artillery Battery is attached to 5th MOC, 074 Field Artillery Battery is under the command of ROC (Bhamo) and 076 Field Artillery Battery is under North-Eastern RMC. Twenty of these Artillery battalions are grouped under 707th Artillery Operation Command (AOC) headquarters in Kyaukpadaung and 808th Artillery Operation Command (AOC) headquarters in Oaktwin, near Taungoo. The remaining 30 battalions, including 7 Anti-Aircraft artillery battalions are under the Directorate of Armour and Artillery (DAA).

Armoured divisions were also expanded in number from one to two, each with ten armoured battalions (five Armoured battalions equipped with Main battle Tanks and five Mechanised Infantry battalions equipped with Infantry fighting vehicles and Armored personnel carriers). In mid-2003, Tamadaw acquired 139+ T-72 Main battle Tanks from Ukraine and signed a contract to build and equip a factory in Myanmar to produce and assemble 1,000 BTR Armored personnel carriers in 2004. In 2006, the Government of India transferred an unspecified number of T-55 Main battle Tanks that were being phased out from active service to Tatmadaw along with 105 mm Light Field Guns, armoured personnel carriers and indigenous HAL Light Attack Helicopters in return for Tatmadaw’s support and cooperation in flushing out Indian insurgent groups operating from its soil.

Artillery Operations Command (AOC)

Since 2000, the Directorate of Artillery Corps has overseen the expansion of Artillery Operations Commands(AOC) from two to 10. Tatmadaw's stated intention is to establish an organic Artillery Operations Command in each of the 12 Regional Military Command Headquarters. Each Artillery Operation Command is composed of the following:

• HQ battalion,
• 12 Artillery Battalions:
  • 6 Light Field artillery battalions equipped with 105 mm, 76 mm, 75 mm howitzers, field guns and mountain guns,
  • 3 Medium Field Artillery battalions equipped with 155 mm, 130 mm, 122 mm howitzers and field guns ,
  • 1 Multiple Rocket Launcher battalion equipped with 122 mm self propelled and towed launchers,
  • 1 Air Defence Artillery battalion with 37 mm, 57 mm Anti-Aircraft guns or SA 18 IGLAs) man portable surface-to-air missiles and
  • 1 target acquisition battalion.
• support units

Light field artillery battalions consists of 3 field artillery batteries with 36 field guns or howitzers (12 guns per battery). Medium artillery battalions consists of 3 medium artillery batteries of 18 field guns or howitzers (6 guns per one battery).

Artillery Operations Command (AOC)	Headquarters	Notes
505th Artillery Operations Command
606th Artillery Operations Command	Thaton
707th Artillery Operations Command	Kyaukpadaung
808th Artillery Operations Command	Oktwin--Taungoo
909th Artillery Operations Command	Mong Khon--Kengtung
901st Artillery Operations Command	Baw-Net-Kyi--Bago
902nd Artillery Operations Command
903rd Artillery Operations Command	Loilem
904th Artillery Operations Command	Mohnyin
905th Artillery Operations Command	Padein--Ngape

Armoured Operations Command (AROC)

Armoured Operations Commands (AROC) are equivalent to Independent Armoured Divisions in western term. Currently there are 5 AROCs in Tatmadaw order of battle. Tatmadaw planned to establish an AROC in 7 of the 12 Regional Military Commands.

Each AROC is composed of AROC HQs, three Tank Battalions, three AFV battalions, one artillery battalion and a support battalion. Support battalion also composed of an engineer squadron, two logistic squadrons and a signal company. However some AROC have only two tank battalions.

Myanmar Army has taken delivery of 150 EE-9 Cascavels from Israeli army(?) surplus in 2005. Although EE 9 are armoured reconnaissance vehicle, Myanmar Army categorized them as light tank and deploys them in eastern Shan State and triangle regions near Thai-Myanmar border.

Myanmar Army Orginisation Structure

Strength

Myanmar Army statistics
Active Troops	550000
Regional Military Commands	13
Infantry Divisions	30 (10 LID and 20 MOC)
Armoured Divisions	10
Artillery Divisions	10
Tanks	3,200
APCs	2,213
Artillery	2000
MRL	600
SAM	1200
AAA	1500

Rank Structure

See: Army ranks and insignia of Myanmar

The various rank of the Myanmar Army are listed below in descending order:

Myanmar Rank	Western Rank	notes
Commissioned Officers
Bo Gyoke Hmu Gyi	Senior General	Equivlent to Field Marshal
Du Bo Gyoke Hmu Gyi	Vice Senior General
Bo Gyoke Kyee	General
Du Bo Gyoke Kyee	Lieutenant General
Bo Gyoke	Major General
Bo Hmu Gyoke	Brigadier General
Bo Hmu Gyi	Colonel
Du Bo Hmu Gyi	Lieutenant-Colonel
Bo Hmu	Major
Bo Gyi	Captain
Bo	Lieutenant
Du Bo	Second Lieutenant
Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs)
A Yar Khan Bo	Warrant Officer
Du A Yar Khan Bo	Regimental Sergeant Major
Oak Khwè Tat Kyat Kyee	Master Sergeant
Tat Kyat Kyee	Sergeant
Tat Kyat	Corporal
Du Tat Kyat	Lance Corporal
Rank and Files
Tat Thar	Private

Order of battle

• 13 x Regional Military Commands (RMC)
• 6 x Regional Operations Commands (ROC)
• 20 × Military Operations Commands (MOC)
• 10 x Light Infantry Divisions (LID)
• 1 x Airborne Infantry Division
• 10 x Armoured Operation Commands (AOC) (Each with 6 Tank Battalions and 4 Armoured Infantry Battalions (IFVs/APCs).)
• 10 x Artillery Operation Commands (AOC) (with of 113 Field Artillery Battalions)
• 10 x Anti-Aircraft Artillery/Air Defence Division (Each with 3 × Medium Range SAM Battalions, 3 × Short Range SAM Battalions, 3 × AAA/AD Battalion)
• 40+ Military Affair Security Companies (MAS Units replaces former Military Intelligence Units after the disbandment of the Directorate of Defense Service Intelligence (DDSI))
• 45 Advanced Signal Battalions
• 54 Field Engineer Battalions
• 4 Armoured Engineer Battalions
• 14 Medical Battalions

Equipment

Armour

Template:Standard table ! style="text-align:left; background:#acc;"|Type ! style="text-align:left; background:#acc;"|Origin ! style="text-align:left; background:#acc;"|Quantity ! style="text-align:left; background:#acc;"|Notes |- ! style="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="7" | Main Battle Tanks |- | T-55 | Soviet Union (India) | 368 | Manufactured by myanmar |- | T-72S | Soviet Union (Ukraine) | 200 | Delivered by Ukraine |- | Type 59D | China | 560 | |- | Type 69-II | China | 100+ | |- ! style="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="7" | Light Tanks |- | Comet | United Kingdom | 123 | New carriers |- | Type 63 | China | 455 | |- ! style="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="7" | Armoured Fighting Vehicles |- | BMP-1 | Soviet Union | 150+ | |- | BTR-3U | Ukraine | 1,500 | To be assembled locally until 2013 |- | Dingo Scout Car | United Kingdom | 72 | World War II vintage |- | EE-9 Cascavel | Brazil (Israel) | 200 | Delivered by Israel |- | Ferret Scout Car | United Kingdom | 6 | |- | Humber Pig | United Kingdom | 60 | |- | MAV-1 | Myanmar | 72 | Locally manufactured Infantry fighting vehicle |- | Panhard AML 90 | France (Israel) | 50+ | Delivered by Israel |- | Type 85 | China | 250 | |- | Universal Carrier | United Kingdom | 80 | World War II vintage |}

Artillery

Template:Standard table ! style="text-align:left; background:#acc;"|Type ! style="text-align:left; background:#acc;"|Origin ! style="text-align:left; background:#acc;"|Quantity ! style="text-align:left; background:#acc;"|Notes |- ! style="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="7" | Self-propelled artillery |- | SH 1: | China | 150 | 155mm self-propelled howitzer |- | Nora B-52 | Serbia | 30 | 152 mm self-propelled howitzer |- ! style="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="7" | Towed artillery |- | 75mm field guns | United Kingdom | 80 | World War II vintage 122 mm howitzer |- | BL 5.5 inch Medium Gun | United Kingdom | 230 | World War II vintage 140 mm howitzer |- | D-30M | Soviet Union | 270 | 122 mm howitzer |- | KH-179 | South Korea | 100+ | 155 mm howitzer |- | M48 mountain gun | Yugoslavia | 100 | 76 mm mountain gun |- | M-845P | Israel | 16 | 155 mm howitzer |- | Ordnance QF 25 pounder | United Kingdom | 50 | World War II vintage 87.6 mm howitzer |- | Type 59-1 | China | 160 | 130 mm field gun |- | Various 105 mm howitzers | Various | 340+ | Types: L118, M101, M56 and others |- ! style="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="7" | Multiple rocket launchers |- | M-1991 |Democratic People's Republic of Korea | 90 | 240 mm multiple rocket launcher (self-propelled) |- | Type 90B | China | 90 | 122 mm multiple rocket launcher (self-propelled) |- | Type 90 | China | 90 | 122 mm multiple rocket launcher (self-propelled) |- | BM-21 | Soviet Union | 190 | 122 mm multiple rocket launcher (self-propelled) |- | Type 63 | China | 48 | 107 mm multiple rocket launcher (towed) |- | BA-84 | Myanmar | 72 | 122 mm multiple rocket launcher (towed) |}

Air Defence

Template:Standard table ! style="text-align:left; background:#acc;"|Type ! style="text-align:left; background:#acc;"|Origin ! style="text-align:left; background:#acc;"|Quantity ! style="text-align:left; background:#acc;"|Notes |- ! style="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="7" | Missile systems |- | Bristol Bloodhound | United Kingdom |60 |- | S-75 Dvina (SA-2 Guideline) | Soviet Union (Russia) |60 | Long-range surface-to-air missile system |- | S-125 Neva/Pechora (SA-3 Goa) | Soviet Union (Russia) | 26 | Long-range surface-to-air missile system |- | 2K12 Kub (SA-6 Gainful) | Soviet Union (Russia) | 58 | Self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile system |- | 9K37 Buk-M1-2 (SA-11 Gadfly) | Soviet Union (Russia) |60 | Self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile system |- | 9K331M Tor-M1 (SA-15 Gauntlet) | Soviet Union (Russia) | 122 | Self-propelled, short-range surface-to-air missile system |- | 2K22 Tunguska M-1 (SA-19 Grison) | Soviet Union (Russia) | 70 | Self-propelled, short-range surface-to-air gun and missile system |- | 9K38 Igla (SA-18 Grouse) | Soviet Union (Russia) | 400 | Very short-range portable surface-to-air missile system (MANPADS) |- | CPMIEC HN5 | China (Myanmar) | 200 | Very short-range portable surface-to-air missile system (MANPADS) |- ! style="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="7" | Gun systems |- | Type 56 | China | 580 | 14.5 mm heavy machine gun in quadruple mounts |- | Type-95 (anti-aircraft system) | Various anti-aircraft guns | 600 | 37 mm /40 mm /57 mm |}

Support Weapons

Template:Standard table ! style="text-align:left; background:#acc;"|Type ! style="text-align:left; background:#acc;"|Origin ! style="text-align:left; background:#acc;"|Quantity ! style="text-align:left; background:#acc;"|Notes |- ! style="align: center; background: lavender;" colspan="7" | Mortars |- | Various mortars | Various | 2400+ | 60 mm / 82 mm / 120 mm |}

Rocket Launchers and Recoilless Guns

• N/A 57 mm M-18
• N/A 57 mm Type 36
• 200 75 mm M-20 Rocket Launchers
• N/A 75 mm Type 52 Rocket Launchers
• N/A 75 mm Type 56 Rocket Launchers
• N/A 82 mm Type 65
• N/A 82 mm Type 78
• 1800 84mm FFC Carl Gustaf M-2
• N/A 3.5in M20 Super Bazooka
• N/A 106 mm M40 recoilless rifle

Heavy Machine Guns

• NSVT
• 12.7mm Type 85 HMG
• 20mm Hispano Suiza Mk 5 Automatic Cannon

General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMG) The typical section support weapon before 1988 Tatmadaw modernisation programme was the locally-manufactured 7.62 mm BA64 Light Machine Gun (LMG). This was essentially the G3 assault rifle fitted with heavy barrel and bipod. The G4 replaced the British 0.30in Bren LMG. Company fire support generally consisted of German-designed 7.62 mm MG3 general purpose machine guns (made in Myanmar's own Ka Pa Sa factories) and the Belgian 7.62 mm FN MAG GPMG.

• 0.30in Browning M1919A4
• 0.303in Bren
• 7.62mm Bren L4A4
• 7.62 mm Ka Pa Sa BA-64
• 5.56 mm Ka Pa Sa MA-2
• 7.62mm Ka Pa Sa MA15
• 7.62mm FN MAG

Individual Weapons

Assault Rifles Before 1988, the standard Myanmar infantry weapon was the 7.62 mm BA-63 assault rifle, a locally-produced version of the Heckler & Koch G3. Myanmar also produced a shorter, lighter carbine version of the same rifle under the designation BA-72, simply known as the G2. A third version of the G3, known as the BA-100, was more accurate and reliable, but was primarily used as a sniper's weapon. Many soldiers, mainly officers and NCO, still carried 0.30 calibre M1 and M2 carbines provided by the US in the 1950s under the Military Assistance Programme (MAP). These world war two vintage carbines are ideal for jungle warfare.

From the beginning of 2002, 7.62 mm BA series rifles have been gradually replaced by 5.56 mm MA-series assault rifles in Myanmar Army's frontline units, tested earlier as the EMERK-3. MA-series assault rifles are similar to Israeli GALIL rifle and fire 5.56 mm NATO rounds. As side-arm, officers used 9 mm Browning High Power/FN-35 semi-automatic pistol locally manufactured under license by Ka Pa Sa.

• Type 81
• Type 56
• 5.56 mm MA-1 assault rifle - (unlicensed modified copy of Galil)
• 5.56 mm MA-3 carbine
• 5.56 mm MA-4 (MA-1 assault rifle with 40 mm M203 Grenade Launcher)
• 5.56 mm MA-11 (unlicenced modified copy of HK33)
• 5.56 mm MA-12 light machine gun based on the above
• 7.62 mm Ka Pa Sa BA-63 assault rifle (licence produced G3A2)
• 7.62 mm Ka Pa Sa BA-72 assault rifle (licence produced G3K)
• 7.62 mm Ka Pa Sa BA-100 assault rifle (licence produced G3A3ZF)
• Kalashnikov AK-74
• Kalashnikov AKM
• 5.45 mm AKS-74U
• Type 97

Picture of BA94 and BA63

Submachine Guns

• 9 mm Ka Pa Sa BA-52 "Ne Win Sten" (licence produced TZ-45)
• 9 mm Ka Pa Sa BA-94, also reported as MA13, is a mix of UZI, H&K and MAT-49. Cocking handle is on the left as in the MAT-49; stock shows G3 influence. Myanmar design and build.
• 9 mm Sterling L2A3

Grenade Launchers

• Type 56 RPG
• Type 69 RPG
• 40 mm GP-25

Training

Defence Academies and Colleges

• National Defence College - NDC (Yangon)
• Defence Services Command and General Staff College - DSCGSC (Kalaw)
• Defence Services Academy - DSA (Pyin Oo Lwin)
• Defence Services Technological Academy - DSTA (Pyin Oo Lwin)
• Defence Services Medical Academy - DSMA (Yangon)
• Defence Services Institute of Nursing and Paramedical Science - DSINP (Yangon)
• Defence Services Technological College -DSTC (Hopone)

Training Schools

• Officer Training School - OTS (Fort Ba Htoo)
• Myanmar Army Combat Forces School-I (Fort Ba Htoo)
• Myanmar Army Combat Forces School-II (Fort Bayintnaung)
• Artillery Training School (Mone Tai)
• Armour Training School (Mine Maw)
• Electronic School (Pyin Oo Lwin)
• Engineer School (Pyin Oo Lwin)
• Information Warfare School (Yangon)
• Air, Land and Paratroops Training School (Hmawbi)
• Special Forces School (Fort Ye Mon)

Transport

Before 1988, Myanmar Army had less than 2000 military trucks in their inventory, bulk of them are locally assembled 6 ton 4x2 Hino TE 11/21 trucks, and they had to rely on civil transport systems. After the 1988 military coup, with the starting of the defence modernization programme, Myanmar started to acquire hundreds of logistic vehicle mainly from China. In 1992, Myanmar Army bought 4000 6 ton 4x2 FAW and Dongfeng EQ1093 trucks form China and delivery completed in 1995. However due to maintenance problems with the earlier TE 11 and 21, Myanmar Army again signed contract with China to buy 4000 Jiefang CA1091 4x2 5 ton trucks.

Again in 1997, Myanmar Army acquired 1000 Dongfeng EQ2102 3.5 tonne 6X6 military utility trucks and 200 Shaanqi SX 2190 6X6 military utility trucks for newly formed artillery units for towing guns. However during border clashes with neighbouring Thailand in 2002, Myanmar Army found difficulties with the existing 4x2 military trucks and then they acquired 3000 Dongfeng EQ2102 3.5 tonne 6X6 military utility trucks. These trucks were delivered at China-Myanmar border town of Shwe Li between 2003 and 2006. In 2007 November, China has agreed to supply another 1500 EQ2102 3.5 tonne 6x6 military utility trucks to Myanmar Military. As part of that agreement Myanmar has taken delivery of first batch of 350 EQ 2102 trucks in 2008 April and 650 trucks are to deliver in June.

Myanmar ordinance factories started assembling Chinese Aeolus 4x2 6 tonne light utility military trucks in 1997.

Trucks

• Hino Motors TE 11/21
• Jiefang Motors EQ1093 truck People's Republic of China
• Jiefang Motors CA1091 (formerly CA141) 5 tonne truck People's Republic of China
• Jiefang Motors EQ2102 3.5 tonne (6x6) truck People's Republic of China
• Shaanqi Motors SX 2190 (6x6) utility truck People's Republic of China
• Dongfeng Motor Corporation/FAW EQ2102 3.5 tonne cargo carrier People's Republic of China
• FSC Star 266 (6x6) medium truck (Poland) Poland
• FAW CA6110/125Z1A2 6x6 6 tonPeople's Republic of China
• Hai mual chin jeep/tedim 6 tonMyanmar ordered in 2003 [3000]

Utility

• Toyota Land Cruiser
• Toyota Tiger DubleCub
• Nissan Patrol
• Isuzu Trooper
• Jiefang Langian People's Republic of China
• Ford DubleCub United States)
• Humvee (locally reverse engineered AMC Hummer United States
• Myanmar Jeeps (copy of US made Jeep)
• Chin Dwin Star Jeeps (copy of US made Jeep)

Communication

Command, Control and Communication system of Myanmar Army has been substantially upgraded by setting up the military fibre optic communication network managed by Directorate of Signal through out the country. Since 2002 all Myanmar Army Regional Military Command HQs used its own telecommunication system. Satellite communication links are also provided to forward-deployed infantry battalions. However, battle field communication systems are still poor. Infantry units are still using TRA 906 and PRM 4051 which were acquired from UK in 1980s. Myanmar Army also uses Thura (locally built TRA 906) and XD-D6M (Chinese) radio sets. Frequency hopping handsets are fitted to all front line units.

Between 2000 to 2005, Myanmar army bought 50 units of Brett 2050 Advanced Tech radio set from Aussie through third party from Singapore. Those units are distributed to ROCs in central & upper regions to use in counterinsurgency operations. In 2010, Myanmar Air Defense Command has completed installation of optical fiber communication network through out the country. Those network are to be used for Air defense operations between Central Command HQ from capital & several air bases, early warning radar stations & mobile anti air craft missile & artillery units. After completion of fiber optic project & radar stations, MIADS (Myanmar Integrated Air Defense System) becomes the most advance AD system in the region.

See also

• Aung San
• Tatmadaw
• Myanmar Navy
• Myanmar Air Force
• Military Intelligence of Myanmar
• Myanmar Police Force

References

http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htada/articles/20081229.aspx?comments=Y

External links

• Role of officers in Burmese Army (Part 1) Bo Htet Min, Mizzima, 23 January 2010