Myanmar and Russia’s military forces have recently conducted a joint military exercise named “Tiger-2026” in Nay Pyi Taw at Ottrathiri Station. It is the first-ever joint military drill between the armies of the two nations to promote friendship, trust, and cooperation between the two armed forces.

The joint military exercises, viewed by Myanmar’s Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services, General Ye Win Oo, featured an intricate series of tactical drills. These were staged operations, such as airborne reconnaissance, battlefield insertion, sniper missions and deployment of FPV and heavy drones to attack and capture specific targets.

Comprehensive Training and Battlefield Simulation

The wide-ranging training programme officially began on July 6. The exercise received intensive theoretical and practical lessons from the expert instructors of the Ministry of Defence, Myanmar, and the Ministry of Defence, Russian Federation throughout the exercise. There was a great deal of training in combat and support skills such as engineering, medical support, communications and specific jungle and mountain tactics.

After weeks of preparation and sharing of first-hand experiences on the battlefront, on July 17, a live practical demonstration was carried out successfully. It saw the showing of a video on how the exercise had been prepared, followed by a unique display of modern technology that included the use of quadcopter drones to march and hoist the national flag of both nations.

Honorary speeches were made by Gen Ye Win Oo and the head of the Russian team, Lt-Gen Nosulev Mikhail Yakovlevich, in the conclusion of the joint military exercise on Friday. In particular, the Russian Army itself supplied and transported all the military equipment during the exercises, demonstrating the strong defense cooperation between the two countries facilitated by the Government of Myanmar and its foreign affairs ministry.