Arakan Army Uses Electronic Warfare to Neutralize Junta Drones in Magway Region

The Arakan Army (AA) has deployed advanced electronic warfare technology to shoot down Myanmar military combat and logistics drones operating near the besieged Nat Yay Kan air defense base in Padan, Magway Region, local military sources reported Wednesday.

The downed aircraft include heavy-duty Octocopter drones—eight-motored aerial vehicles used by regime forces to airlift food, ammunition, and supplies to troops trapped at the base—as well as strike drones targeting resistance positions.

AA forces and allied People's Defense Forces (PDF) have maintained a tight blockade around the strategic outpost.

To bypass the ground blockade and sustain the stranded garrison, regime forces deployed approximately 500 troops to nearby villages, including Khamak Daung, Myay Lat, and Mukuk, converting them into fortified support bases and drone launchpads.

Sources indicate the military planned to introduce newer UAV models, including the Pasaka 905 and Kapasa 14 — UAV models indigenously assembled or modified by Myanmar’s Directorate of Defence Industries (DDI) —to reinforce the operation.

The reliance on aerial supply runs follows a stalled ground offensive the junta launched on Sept. 4 along the Nat Yay Kan mountain road.

After sustaining heavy casualties during an attempted covert flanking maneuver along a ridge between the old and new Nat Yay Kan roads, regime columns were forced to retreat, evacuating hundreds of wounded soldiers day and night to Padan.

With ground advances halted, junta forces turned to UAVs and octocopters for reconnaissance and bombardment from open terrain.

However, AA forces have repeatedly disrupted and intercepted the aerial vehicles using specialized counter-drone systems.