Myanmar's largest and best-armed insurgent force, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), has carried out a broad upgrade of its anti-aircraft defences with the induction of Chinese third-generation FN-6 manportable air defence systems (MANPADS).
According to a reliable military source in northeastern Shan State, who has seen the new MANPADS in the field, the UWSA recently acquired a "large number" of the passive infrared FN-6 systems. Effective up to 3,500 m and with strong resistance to flares, solar effects, and heat from the ground, the FN-6 constitutes a significant improvement over the first-generation Chinese HN-5 - a reverse-engineered version of the obsolete Soviet Strela-2 (SAM-7) - fielded by the UWSA since at least 2001.
The source could not confirm how long the new system has been in service with the UWSA, which renewed an uneasy ceasefire with government forces in 2012 but has displayed a pointed disinterest in government efforts to organise a national ceasefire agreement with all of Myanmar's armed ethnic factions.
It is likely, however, that the upgrade of the group's air-defence capability has taken place as a key element in a process of rapid military modernisation that since mid-2012 has involved the acquisition of large quantities of small-arms and infantry support weaponry and, for the first time, Chinese armoured vehicles and a small number of medium-lift transport helicopters.
