Following the recent news of the military coup in Myanmar;

Hemant Bhandari, Aerospace, Defense and Security Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“The US has threatened to re-impose sanctions on Myanmar following a military staged a coup d’état (coup) on the ruling government. Myanmar’s military also declared control of the country and placed it in a state of emergency for one year, a move that has received strong condemnation from the US, the United Nations and the European Union. However, these sanctions are not expected to have a significant impact on the country’s ongoing defense procurement programs.

“Presently, Myanmar is in the process of modernization of its armed forces. In the past few years, the country has signed some major defense procurement deals for JF-17 Thunder Jets, SY-400 conventional land attack missiles and Su-30SM, which will be delivered by China and Russia, respectively. China has adopted a neutral stance and not condemned the military coup. The same is expected from Russia as well.

“The limited dependence on the western defense equipment will keep the ongoing procurements of Myanmar unaffected and on track in the near term. The persistent threat of sanctions and censure from the major western countries is expected to skew Myanmar’s relationship towards China and Russia as its key defense suppliers.”