A report by IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly in April that the United Wa State Army (UWSA) had received several helicopters from China armed with TY-90 air-to-air missiles has been independently confirmed, Jane’s reported this week. The new report cites informed local sources who told journalist Bertil Lintner, an expert on Burma, that two of the helicopters, understood to be Mil Mi-17 ‘Hip’ medium-lift transports, are currently based at Man Nam Sai near the town of Pangwai in the northeastern Wa hills, not far from the Chinese border. Lintner reported the sighting in a report published by Asia Times Online on June 25. Both China and the UWSA have denied the original Jane’s report.
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