The Myanmar military regime has taken delivery of all six Su-30 fighter jets ordered from Russia, the Army Recognition Group (ARG) defense publication reported on Monday.
The final two warplanes in the Russian shipment were commissioned at Mandalay’s Meiktila Air Base during a Dec. 15 ceremony to mark the Air Force’s 77th anniversary, led by junta boss Min Aung Hlaing.
The six Su-30SME multirole fighter aircraft were transferred to the Myanmar Air Force under a 2018 contract worth $400 million, financed by a Russian loan.
“The planes will become the main fighter aircraft of Myanmar’s air force to protect the country’s territorial integrity and repel any terror threats,” Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Lieutenant General Alexander Fomin was quoted as saying at the time by Russian news agency TASS.
Junta media reported that other warplanes and helicopters were commissioned during last month’s ceremony, without specifying their models. A post-fourth generation Su-30 jet also took part in the air parade, the reports said.
Addressing the event, Min Aung Hlaing called on the air campaign’s effectiveness to be enhanced by continuous training to maximize the capabilities of aircraft, helicopters and weapon systems.
The first two Su-30 fighter jets were commissioned into service at the 75th Air Force anniversary ceremony in December 2023. The junta boss anointed them with holy water, announcing they would boost the regime’s air superiority. He also praised Air Force pilots for their roles in battles in northern Shan State.
However, in the months that followed, nearly all of northern Shan State fell to Brotherhood Alliance-led forces.
Since the 2021 coup, the junta has targeted residential areas, including schools, healthcare facilities, displacement camps, and religious buildings in its air campaign against resistance forces and ethnic armed organizations. Despite condemnation from the international community and rights groups, the campaign intensified last year with at least 814 people killed in 1,639 airstrikes from January to August 2024, according to Nyan Lynn Thit Analytica, a group monitoring junta atrocities.
However, despite its air superiority, the regime has lost large swaths of territory in ethnic states and central Myanmar along with hundreds of junta positions, including two regional commands in northern Shan State and Rakhine.
A few days before taking delivery of the last two jet fighters in December, the regime ceded Maungdaw, Taungup and Gwa towns, as well as the Western Command headquarters in Rakhine State. Meanwhile, it also lost Manerplaw in Karen State’s Hpa-an District, the former headquarters of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic armed group, the Karen National Union.
