- Lebanon army chief Aoun becomes president after two-year vacancy
- US emissions stagnated in 2024, challenging climate goals: study
- Lebanon army chief short of required majority in first round of president vote
- Global stock markets mixed tracking US rates outlook
- Lebanon meets to finally elect president after two-year vacancy
- Celebrities flee Los Angeles fires, lose houses as Hollywood events scrapped
- Japan startup hopeful ahead of second moon launch
- Ukraine allies to hold last defence meet before Trump takes office
- Myanmar military adopts anti-junta fighters' drone tactics
- CES tech looks to help world's aging population
- Rubber tappers forge sustainable future in Amazon
- US astronauts upbeat seven months into eight-day mission
- Extreme weather, suburban sprawl fuel LA's wildfires
- Political chess or true beliefs? Zuckerberg's surprise Trump pivot
- US Fed officials concerned over 'stalled' disinflation, tariffs: minutes
- Celebrities flee Los Angeles fires as Hollywood events scrapped
- Several US Fed officials concerned over 'stalled' disinflation: minutes
- US tech titans ramp up pressure on EU
- 'Wicked' tops SAG Awards nominations
- Safe from looting, Damascus museum reopens a month after Assad's fall
- Award-winning migrant actor earns visa to stay in France -- as a mechanic
- Celebrities forced to flee Los Angeles blazes
- US tariff and inflation fears rattle global markets
- US private sector hiring undershoots expectations: ADP
- US tariffs unlikely to have 'significant' inflation impact: Fed official
- Lebanon leaders in talks for new bid to elect president
- Antarctic sea ice rebounds from record lows: US scientists
- Can EU stand up to belligerent Big Tech in new Trump era?
- US, Canadian and Australian travellers now face UK entry fee
- Indonesia upholds iPhone 16 sales ban after Apple offers $1 bn investment
- UK's Catherine turns 43 hoping for better year
- OpenAI chief Sam Altman denies sister's sexual abuse accusations
- Germans turn to balcony solar panels to save money
- Samsung warns fourth-quarter profit to miss forecasts
- Brazil gears up for first climate conference in Amazon
- Iraqi archaeologists piece together ancient treasures ravaged by IS
- Big Tech rolls out the red carpet for Trump
- Former US president Carter lies in state after somber Washington procession
- US company Firefly Aerospace to launch for Moon next week
- No proof fentanyl produced in Mexico, president says
- Biotech Startups Get a Boost: ZAGENO and Hatch.Bio Labs Partner to Streamline Lab Operations
- Mosquitoes with 'toxic' semen could stem disease spread: research
- NASA eyes SpaceX, Blue Origin to cut Mars rock retrieval costs
- Invisible man: German startup bets on remote driver
- US urged to do more to fight bird flu after first death
- Inflation concerns pull rug out from Wall Street rally
- Frigid temps hit US behind major winter storm
- US trade deficit widens in November on imports jump
- Key dates in the rise of the French far right
- Hundreds of young workers sue McDonald's UK alleging harassment
Myanmar military adopts anti-junta fighters' drone tactics
A Myanmar military drone tracked a car carrying anti-junta forces as it drove through the contested village of Moe Bye. Moments after it parked near a house, the operator dropped an explosive.
Myanmar has been mired in bloody conflict since the military seized power in a 2021 coup, sparking a widespread armed uprising that has seen their pro-democracy opponents take swathes of territory, while millions of civilians have been displaced.
Drone strikes have been crucial to the insurgents' successes, including pushing junta troops out of large areas in Myanmar's north, many of them near the border with China.
Now the military is adopting the equipment of the anti-coup fighters, using drones to drop mortars or guide artillery strikes and bombing runs by its Chinese and Russian-built air force.
"We were very weak in technology and suffered much," one frontline Myanmar military officer told AFP.
"We lost some military posts in the regions because of bombing by drones," he said, declining to be named for security reasons.
"Now we are also using drones for counter-attack. They used big jammers to block the signal. We also use jammers."
Early morning mist gives cover to Kayan National Army (KNA) personnel as they patrol Moe Bye, in the rugged jungle-covered hills that run along the border of Shan and Kayah states.
But when the weather clears, the skies open to the Myanmar military's new weapons.
As the KNA troops sheltered in a wooded area, their faces etched with tension, the sound of the bomb explosion rang out. Two anti-junta fighters were injured in the blast.
"In the past, their strategy was to send soldiers first when they attacked," said Ba Kone, a battalion commander in the KNA, one of the myriad groups battling the military.
"Now they send drones first and then soldiers follow."
Flying at 1500 metres or higher -- altitudes far beyond the range of civilian drones -- the junta's devices are out of reach of the KNA's jammers.
"We can't do anything except hide in a safe place," said Ba Kone.
- China visit –
Facing one of the region's biggest and most battle-hardened militaries, the youth-led "People's Defence Forces" quickly turned to drones after the coup in their battle to topple the junta.
Fighters smuggled drones built for filming or agricultural purposes -- many of them made in China, which dominates the global drone industry -- into anti-junta camps where teams repurposed them to carry crude but effective "drop bombs".
Top military officials have acknowledged that drone strikes were key in a huge rebel offensive in 2023 that pushed junta troops out of thousands of square kilometres of northern Shan state.
At the time, junta chief Min Aung Hlaing accused unnamed "foreign drone experts" of helping their opponents as they dealt the military its most significant setback since it seized power.
Beijing has long been the junta's key ally and Jason Tower of the United States Institute of Peace said there was now "growing evidence that would suggest that the junta is obtaining drones from China".
In November, during his first known trip to China, Min Aung Hlaing visited Zhongyue Aviation UAV Firefighting-Drone in Chongqing and "observed the advanced drones created by the company", according to Myanmar state media.
The firm did not respond to a request for comment from AFP.
Myanmar military sources told AFP their supplies of drones had increased after Min Aung Hlaing's journey.
The military has become "much more accurate" in its use of offensive drones, said Dave Eubank of the Free Burma Rangers, a Christian aid group that has long worked in conflict areas in Myanmar, adding they were helping it exploit its huge advantage in firepower.
In 2021, air strikes were 500 to 1,000 metres off target, he told AFP. "By 2022, they were within 500 metres. By 2023, they were within 10-20 metres."
- 'Like dogs' –
The clashes in Moe Bye are an overspill from fighting in Kayah state, a hotbed of resistance where the United Nations says more than 130,000 people have been forced from their homes by conflict -- over a third of the population.
In December, Lway Zar arrived with her family at a makeshift encampment for the displaced in Pekon township, just a few minutes drive from Moe Bye.
It was the fifth time she had been forced to move since the coup, by fighting, floods -- and now military shelling.
"I don't know how long we can stay here," she said. "Even if we don't hear heavy gunfire, we still think that drones and air strikes are always following us.
"Before the coup, our family was poor but we had good living conditions in our own house and we could store rice from our fields," she told AFP.
"After that, we lost everything in the war. My husband said we used to be human but now we are like dogs."
A.Agostinelli--CPN