The Centre for Information Resilience's Myanmar Witness project has released a report showing how the Russian-made YAK-130 warplane has been deployed in Myanmar.
The Yak-130 is a sophisticated, Russian-manufactured, two-seat jet trainer with a documented ground attack capability, and is known to employ a number of weapon types.
Myanmar Witness has reviewed imagery and footage coming out of Myanmar over the past two years which has shown that the Myanmar military have acquired and later employed Yak-130 aircraft in a number of military operations to attack targets on the ground.
Verified footage shows the Myanmar military using Yak-130 jets to fire unguided rockets and 23mm cannon fire in and around civilian-populated areas.
Between 2015 and 2019, 12 aircraft were delivered following purchase agreements between Myanmar and Russia. Following the coup in 2021, Russia expressed an intent to continue to support the Myanmar military and to supply further Yak-130 jets. On 15 December 2021, six additional jets were unveiled at Meiktila (မိတ္ထီလာမြို့) airbase, Myanmar, as part of the 74th anniversary ceremony of Myanmar’s Air Force.
Following analysis of aircraft tail numbers, Myanmar Witness believes that there are likely to be 20 Yak-130 within the Myanmar Air Force’s (MAF) inventory (prior to any losses). The full report can be downloaded below.