The Burmese state-owned arms manufacturing wing Ka pa sa Industries (Defence Industries) has a long history of working within limited resources to meet the operational requirements of the Tatmadaw (Burmese Military). Operationally this has been seen in the cycle of [Read More…]
The Myanmar Military (“Tatmadaw” in Burmese) is one of the only Southeast Asian nations that manufactures the majority of its small arms and light weapons (up to 120mm mortars) and has been doing so since the early 1950s in collaboration with a number of foreign allies. The majority of [Read More…]
Although rebel groups and insurgents are usually focused more on small arms themselves instead of the accessories that can be attached to them, we are continuing to see the diversification of these after-market accessories throughout the world as the firearms themselves [Read More…]
Wooden handguards fitted for an M16/AR15-patterned rifle are nothing new in the United States among the boutique custom build community. Some folks prefer the older, more nostalgic look of the solid wood grips that used to be so common on firearms of all types prior to [Read More…]
Currently boosting a force of over 30,000 fighters, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) has always been a force of reckoning on the Burmese border with China. And although arms production among the Wa (northern Shan State) isn’t a new or hot topic (this [Read More…]
In an earlier article on TFB, we covered the early efforts at producing a precision rifle for the Burmese Army, culminating in the MA-Sniper. In this article, we look at the production variant. Finally, we get to the production MA-Sniper. Starting at least before 2013, [Read More…]
In two previous articles on TFB we looked at the Burmese MA-Sniper in-depth while being used in the field by Tatmadaw Infantrymen. If readers recall there were a number of different variants of the MA-Sniper, to include early attempts at modifying MA-2 Light Machine [Read More…]
During the age of the G3, manufactured in Burma by Defense Industries under contract from Heckler & Koch through the West German company Fritz Werner, the Tatmadaw produced a designated marksman variant. It was called the BA-100 (Burma Army-100) and was the fourth [Read More…]
Your enemy is the best teacher when it comes to combat. In a move that appears to be imitating what the Kachin Independence Army pioneered in 2010 when it comes to bullet trap rifle grenades being fired from locally assembled Type 81 derivatives (the Chinese Type 81 [Read More…]
Images appearing on Burmese media networks have revealed that the Burmese state-run Defense Industries corporation has prototyped at least three different anti-materiel rifles (AMR), putting at least on of them into production and getting them into Tatmadaw service. [Read More…]
The Arakan Army released a video in April of 2018 that was commemorating the 9th anniversary of the founding of the rebel group that shows a Barrett MRAD in a Multi-Role Brown Cerekote being fired during the promotional video. Due to the multi-caliber options of the [Read More…]
There is extremely little to nothing written about the Tatmadaw’s 40mm Low-Velocity standalone Grenade Launcher. Even when it comes to the name, we are actually unsure of it’s official nomenclature within the Burmese Army and Police Forces. For [Read More…]
Although located in some of the most remote parts of the Burmese jungle, the Kachin Independence Army has been able to build up an impressive arms assembly capability in the northern regions of the country of Myanmar. It is very difficult to acquire information and [Read More…]
Although the 9x19mm MA-13 MK II design was first seen online in 2012, there is still relatively not much known about it outside of the Myanmar Police Special Task Force that has been seen utilizing it as standard issue, albeit sparingly. Staying within the previous [Read More…]
Although not entering active service in large numbers, the Burmese state-operated defense armaments production wing, Defense Industries has been quietly working on what appears to be 9x19mm NATO Glock-pattern copy in the guise of a second generation variant without [Read More…]
It’s unfortunate that when tabletop volumes or works of fine journalism cover the weapons used in a particular time or place, they always seem to paint a nice neat picture: M16A1s squared off against AK-47s in Vietnam, Lee-Enfields against Mausers in the Boer [Read More…]
One time when I was off training duty, while my friend took over teaching for an hour, I was walking the area scoping out any and all firearms I came across when this beauty caught my eye as it was the only "American type" weapon we had seen other than a few M1 [Read More…]
These photos are were purportedly taken by a Chinese Private Military Contractor of other Chinese PMCs protecting Chinese interests in Burma. Chinese businesses own a lot of farm land and many quarries on the Burmese side of the border which are used to fuel the [Read More…]
The United Wa State Army has acquired a number of M99 12.7mm Anti-Material Rifles from China, reports China Defense Blog. These semi-automatic rifles are either chambered in 12.7x108mm Russian or in .50 BMG. The United Wa State Army is a an [Read More…]
China appears to be supplying QBZ-03 / Type 03 rifles to the United Wa State Army. These rifles along were among the weapons on display at a celebration of the 23rd anniversary of the Wa mutiny against the Communist Party of Burma. China, it seems, does not play [Read More…]
Jane’s Intelligence Review, via Burmese (Myanmar) news website Irrawaddy, reports that the United Wa State Army (UWSA) rebels in northern Burma have begun manufacturing AK-47s and ammunition for themselves and to sell to their allies in the region. Burma (From [Read More…]
An interesting although unsurprising article about gun law in Burma (Myanmar): A 1951 law bans possession of automatic weapons, grenades, and explosives with the intent to commit high treason. A rather narrowly-tailored law, at first glance. However, the law states that [Read More…]
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