II. International Legal Framework and Analysis
76
Model
Manufacturer
Type
Description
Events
Yak-130
Irkut Corporation
(Irkutsk Aviation
Plant), a subsidiary
of United Aircraft
Corporation
(UAC)275
Light Attack
Aircraft
Advanced jet trainers and
light attack aircraft used in
airstrikes.277 Between 2017
and 2020, Russia supplied a
total of 20 Yak-130 aircraft
to the Myanmar military;
the initial six aircraft were
delivered in 2017.278 Six
more were delivered in 2018
and two in 2019.279 Another
batch of six aircraft ordered
in 2019 was reported to
have been delivered in
2020.280
In June 2022, a Yak-130 was
spotted during airstrikes in
Myawaddy Township, Karen
State, launching multiple salvos of
unguided rockets.281
Exported to
Myanmar
via Russia’s
state-controlled
Rosoboronexport276
On October 23, 2022, Yak‑130
jets from No. 62 Squadron, based
at Tada‑U Airbase, reportedly
carried out an airstrike on a KIO
anniversary concert in A Nang Pa,
Hpakant Township, Kachin State,
killing over 60 people.282
275 Weapon System, “Yakovlev Yak-130,” website, https://weaponsystems.net/system/178-Yakovlev+Yak-130; Business &
Human Rights Resource Centre, “Irkutsk -United Aircraft Corporation did not Respond,” website, https://www.businesshumanrights.org/en/latest-news/irkutsk-united-aircraft-corporation-did-not-respond/. See also, U.N. Special
Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar Tom Andrews, The Billion Dollar Death Trade, p. 13.
276 Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, “Rosoboronexport,” website, https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/
companies/rosoboronexport/. U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights in Myanmar Tom Andrews,
The Billion Dollar Death Trade, p. 12
277 Zachary Abuza, “The Myanmar military’s Air Superiority is Slipping Away Amid Sanctions and Opposition Attacks,”
Radio Free Asia, January 20, 2024, https://www.rfa.org/english/commentaries/myanmar-air-power-01202024101801.
html.
278 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Arms Transfer Database, accessed July 28, 2025, https://armstransfers.
sipri.org/ArmsTransfer/TransferData/transferDetail?entityId=813813; See also, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Office
of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services, “Air Force of the Tatmadaw Must be Transformed into a Modern Force
to Have Superior Air Power,” December 16, 2017, https://www.seniorgeneralminaunghlaing.com.mm/en/3720/airforce-of-the-tatmadaw-must-be-transformed-into-a-modern-force-to-have-superior-air-power/.
279 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Arms Transfer Database, accessed July 28, 2025, https://armstransfers.
sipri.org/ArmsTransfer/TransferData/transferDetail?entityId=813832; See also, United Nations Register of Conventional
Arms, Russian Federation 2018, “Major Conventional Arms (Category I-VII) - Exports,” https://www.unroca.org/en/russianfederation/report/2018/; Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services, “New Military Planes and Helicopters
Put Into Service at 72nd Anniversary Of Tatmadaw (Air).”
280 Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Arms Transfer Database, accessed July 28, 2025, https://armstransfers.
sipri.org/ArmsTransfer/TransferData/transferDetail?entityId=821569.
281 Centre for Information Resilience (Myanmar Witness), “Yak-130,” website, https://www.info-res.org/myanmarwitness/guides/yak-130/.
282 “Yakkha’ Pilots in Yak-130s Likely Responsible for Hpakant Airstrike: Defector,” Myanmar Now, October 22, 2022,
https://myanmar-now.org/en/news/yakkha-pilots-in-yak-130s-likely-responsible-for-hpakant-airstrike-defector/.