Belarus supplies air defense system to Myanmar junta: activist group

Belarus has supplied an air defense system to Myanmar’s junta to defend against anti-regime drone strikes, Justice for Myanmar said, The Irrawaddy reports.

The rights group said on Saturday that it had uncovered significant, ongoing military collaboration between the two regimes.

Leaked correspondence with Belarus confirmed the custom-design of air defense command V3D radar technology and ground-based missiles by state-owned Belspetsvneshtechnika, JFM said.

The system includes Panorama automation and Vostok 3D radar to track targets automatically, including drones, which are used by anti-regime forces, it added.

Junta personnel are studying air defense technology at the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics to boost weapons production at regime factories in Naypyitaw and Mandalay.

Belarus voted against a 2021 UN General Assembly resolution calling on UN members to prevent arms sales to Myanmar.

The V3D radar system developed by JSC KB Radar and marketed for export by BSVT. / JFM

This year, junta leader Min Aung Hlaing traveled to Belarus in March and was in Minsk on Friday for talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on arms sales and investment.

He also visited the Belarusian Optical and Mechanical Organization arms company, which specializes in night-vision devices and air brakes for heavy trucks.

Min Aung Hlaing met regime officers studying in Belarus on Friday and urged them to focus on drone and missile technologies, according to the junta media.

Min Aung Hlaing meets Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk in March.

Representatives from the Belarusian arms industry and universities with military engineering and training programmes have repeatedly visited Myanmar this year and signed deals with Myanmar’s universities on military applicability, JFM reported.

JFM called for sanctions against Myanmar’s arms brokers trading with Belarus, including the Dynasty Group, and Belarusian universities training junta personnel.

JFM spokeswoman Yadanar Maung said: “Collaboration with Belarus should be of immediate and wider concern in light of Belarus’ support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”

She said sanctions were crucial to disrupt shipments of arms to Myanmar’s junta.