On the evening of 20 February 2026, an ATR-72-600 passenger aircraft operated by Myanmar National Airlines was preparing for take-off at Myitkyina Airport in Kachin State when it was struck in an alleged First-Person View drone attack. State media and official press releases reported that suicide drones caused minor damage to the nose, mid-body, and tail sections of the plane.

According to security forces, air defence systems detected the incoming threat, preventing a direct detonation inside the airport and forcing the devices to crash on the runway where they were subsequently defused. Fortunately, no passengers or flight crew sustained injuries.

The military junta was quick to blame the Kachin Independence Army and allied Peoples Defence Force units, describing the targeting of civilian transport infrastructure as a war crime. However, a spokesman for the Kachin armed group firmly denied the allegations, insisting they have no policy of attacking civilian airlines and took no part in the operation.

Regardless of the perpetrator, the airport incident underscores a rapidly evolving asymmetric war in Myanmar, a nation now recognised as the world’s second most intensive theatre for drone warfare behind only Ukraine. Following the 2021 military coup, tech-savvy resistance fighters, including young engineers and students, began weaponising commercially available agricultural and photography drones to counter the militarys vast superiority in traditional airpower and heavy artillery.

What began as rudimentary operations dropping 3D-printed munitions has transformed into a sophisticated, decentralised shadow air force. Rebel units have increasingly turned to agile First-Person View racing drones, modifying them to act as highly manoeuvrable loitering munitions capable of precision kamikaze strikes against junta targets.

This alleged strike on a fixed-wing aircraft follows a clear pattern of increasingly audacious anti-aviation operations by rebel forces. In May 2025, the Kachin Independence Army successfully used a similar drone to down a military Mi-17 transport helicopter that was hovering just feet off the ground while attempting to land with supplies in Shwegu. Resistance forces have also repeatedly penetrated high-security airspace, executing coordinated kamikaze drone strikes against the juntas military headquarters and the Aye Lar airbase in the capital city of Naypyidaw.