Anti-junta forces fire on air bases near Myitkyina, Mandalay

Resistance groups claim to have attacked two strategically important regime-controlled air bases in Kachin State and Mandalay Region with electric charge-activated rockets this week. A group calling itself the Northern Brotherhood People’s Defence Force (PDF) issued a statement detailing its attack on the Nam Paung Air Base on the west bank of the Ayeyarwady River a few miles southwest of the Kachin State capital, Myitkyina. The group shot 10 charge-activated rocket shells at around 10am on Friday, Northern Brotherhood PDF spokespersons said, adding that they were still gathering information on the extent of the damage inflicted. “We fired 10 of the 107mm rockets directly at the air force base,” said a spokesperson, noting that the targets were the aircraft repair hangar, a storage garage, and a radar system. “We are still gathering information about how much damage we caused.” Locals living near the air base heard loud explosions, a Myitkyina resident confirmed. “One of my friends saw a charge-activated missile fly over his roof,” the resident said. “There are three city wards near the air base—Shwe Pyi Thar, Shwe Aik, and Pan Ma Ti—and the air base is between Maw Hpawng village and Pan Ma Ti.” According to the Northern Brotherhood PDF’s statement, they had previously attacked the same air base with charge-activated 107mm rockets in September of last year, destroying several junta aircraft on the ground. The Nam Paung base is one of the air bases used by the junta air force to conduct indiscriminate airstrikes on civilian targets in Kachin State and Sagaing Region. Because most resistance groups have no access to anti-aircraft guns, they have adopted a strategy of targeting aircraft stored at air bases. Charge-activated shells of the kind used in the attack on the Nam Paung air base (Supplied) Tada-U Air Base On Wednesday morning, three allied resistance groups carried out a coordinated attack on Mandalay Region’s Tada-U Air Base, which is located within the Mandalay International Airport some five miles southwest of Mandalay. This is also the nearest airport to the city of Sagaing, a resistance stronghold, located on the northwest bank of the Ayeyarwady River opposite Mandalay. The fighters used five 90mm heavy artillery shells and ten 107mm rockets. A resistance group calling itself the Freedom Revolution Force (FRF) announced the next day that they had targeted and damaged an aircraft hangar in the attack, adding that the air base was the main facility used by the junta for launching airstrikes in the vicinity. "We targeted the aircraft hangars first and foremost. One was damaged,” an FRF spokesperson said. The destroyed hangar housed six military planes, the spokesperson said, but the group was still investigating the extent of damage to the aircraft inside. The FRF was joined in the operation by the Kyaukse Revolution Army (KRA) and Sintgaing Township People’s Defense Team (PDT). “This air base has been a source of trouble for civilians across the entire country, so we made it a target," he said. They said that the Tada-U Air Base is also used to store planes used by the junta for fighting in Sagaing Region. By 2023, more than two years after the coup, the military had come to rely as much on airstrikes as ground forces to maintain its advantage over resistance forces. The Aye Lar air base, located within the international airport in Naypyitaw, has also come under attack repeatedly by resistance forces using drones and charge-activated rockets. On April 4, fighters under the command of the anti-junta, shadow National Unity Government carried out their largest-scale attack on the air base to date, deploying more than two dozen “kamikaze” drones. The military council has not made public statements nor responded to Myanmar Now’s attempts to inquire about this week’s air base attacks.

Anti-junta forces fire on air bases near Myitkyina, Mandalay

Unable to access anti-aircraft weapons, resistance forces have instead targeted planes stored at the bases from which the junta regularly launches indiscriminate airstrikes

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