The Myanmar military has begun enhancing its expanding unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capabilities, adapting forward-looking infrared (FLIR) systems for tactical attack drones.
The newly introduced use of thermal imaging FLIR technology in an escalating drone war emerged in propaganda video footage posted on social media sympathetic to the State Administration Council (SAC) military regime on 7 February. professional fixed wing drone
The footage from a drone-mounted FLIR camera showed night-time combat on 6 February in and around the prison in Bhamo, a city in northern Kachin State besieged since December 2024 by forces of the ethnic Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and allied People's Defence Forces (PDFs).
Thermal imaging revealed groups of individual soldiers running between and into buildings and then being targeted by munitions – so-called ‘drop bombs' – released from the same rotary unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV).
Commentary accompanying the video noted that footage from a drone-mounted FLIR camera was released by the military for the first time in January and showed night-time combat also in Bhamo city.
The commentary also noted that FLIR technology has long been used in Myanmar Air Force (MAF) Mil Mi-35 attack helicopters and other manned platforms, but that its adaptation to UCAVs began in 2025 in the protracted and ongoing battle for Bhamo.
For more information, please see Myanmar military adapts FLIR systems for expanding drone war
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