The Burmese military junta spends a fortune in the defence sector buying military hardware but the crash of a fighter plane on Monday demonstrates the poor quality of the regime's armament, a Burmese military analyst said.
A Burmese pilot died on Monday when his fighter plane crashed during a test sortie in central Burma , sources and the state-run media said.
The fighter plane crashed shortly after take off from an international airport in Burma's second largest city of Mandalay due to engine failure, the New Light of Myanmar said.
While the Burmese government's mouth-piece newspaper did not mention the death of the pilot, a source in Mandalay, who is close to the military establishment, told Mizzima that the pilot was killed in the crash.
Though the source did not mention of the death of a co-pilot, other reports, citing a government official, suggests that there could be a co-pilot, who died in the crash.However, Mizzima was unable to independently verify the death of a co-pilot.
The source, who requested anonymity, identified the pilot as Sai Seng Linn who was living with his mother working as a school teacher in Tada Oo village near Mandalay.
"The plane which nose dived made a crater three feet deep and 20 feet wide on the ground. The aircraft was broken into bits. We could not find the pilot," the source added.
The plane was a Chinese-made A-5 fighter jet, which was bought in 1994 with a five-year guarantee, the source said.
Htay Aung, a Burmese military analyst based in Thailand said the plane crash is another phenomenon that the Burmese Air Force is experiencing as most of its Chinese made equipment are out-dated or out of warranty.
"As far as I have observed, since 1999, at least nine fighter planes of the Burmese Air Force have crashed," Htay Aung said.
While the Burmese military junta has been buying military hardware including fighter planes, the quality of the armaments supplied is poor. So far its best fighter planes are Russian-made MIG 29s, Htay Aung said.
According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Burmese junta's military expenditure accounts for over 40 percent of the national budget while health and education allocation accounts for 0.4 and 0.5 percent respectively.
