Military sources have confirmed that the fighter jet shot down by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Pale Township, Sagaing Region, was a Chinese-made obsolete Chengdu F-7M type aircraft worth approximately 2.5 million US dollars. The PLA successfully shot down the military council’s fighter jet during the battle for Kandaung camp on June 10 afternoon. The aircraft crashed in Saparsay village, resulting in the death of one pilot, according to the PLA’s official statement.
Based on the photographic evidence of aircraft debris released by the PLA, the downed aircraft was identified as a Chinese-manufactured Chengdu F-7M fighter jet, which is significantly outdated and in a completely unsafe operational condition, according to military sources. The aircraft, which departed from Magway Air Base, was targeted by coordinated fire from revolutionary forces on the ground. CDM Major Zin Yaw explained that while the pilot attempted to eject using the aircraft’s ejection system, the attempt failed due to system malfunction.
Tactical Raptor 2.0, which analyzes the military council’s weapons and ammunition, confirmed that the aircraft was a single-engine, single-pilot fighter jet. The Myanmar military purchased approximately 60 Chengdu F-7M fighter jets from China in the early 1990s, with each unit costing around 2.5 million US dollars, according to air force sources. These fighter jets have a history of unreliability and frequent crashes, with three Chengdu F-7M aircraft crashes recorded in 2018 alone.
Despite their poor safety record, the military council continues to operate these aircraft due to shortages in their air force inventory, reflecting the deteriorating state of their air combat capabilities, according to former air force officers. Since the military coup in 2021, revolutionary forces have successfully shot down a total of 12 military council aircraft, including both fighter jets and helicopters. The continued use of such outdated and unsafe aircraft demonstrates the severe crisis facing the military council’s air force operations and their desperate attempts to maintain air superiority despite significant operational constraints.
