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| KIA displaying supposedly-captured Carl Gustav. |
To tell
you the truth Burma army had been using AT-4 launcher since mid 1980s and the
army got these powerful recoilless-launchers (the first generation versions) and
assorted shells direct from the manufacturer SAAB Bofors Dynamic of Sweden.
Burmese army’s nomenclature for 84mm Carl Gustav launcher is AT-4 as it is
basically an anti-tank weapon.
AT-4
launcher was mainly and effectively used in the raging battles against the KNU
(Karen National Union) and CPB (Communist Party of Burma) insurgents in the
1980s and 1990s.
Following
is the extracts from my 2010 translation of Thaung Wai Oo’s “Battles of Maing-yang” the battle Burmese army fought against overwhelming CPB insurgents
on the Chinese border in September 1988.
“Enemy’s
500 strong infantry under the protection of their heavy-weapon support then
bayonet-charged the Aung-da-ghun Hill from all possible directions. IB-11 CO
Major Soe Lwin ordered his men to fire at the charging enemy with 84mm
Carl-Gustav launcher.
 |
| US Special Forces firing a Carl Gustav. |
And
at about 5 in the late afternoon of September 23 the battalion CO Major Soe
Lwin was instantly killed by a shell fired from one of enemy’s 57mm recoilless
guns.”
For more than two decades of its use Burma army has never lost an AT-4 launcher as it was a very expensive weapon highly-valued by both army and the insurgents feeling the brunt of the powerful launcher.
The AT-4 was so devastating on the KNU positions along Thai border Colonel Nerdah Mya the son of late KNU General Saw Bo Mya once even offered his very pretty young daughter as the prize for marriage if any KNU soldier got hold of an AT-4 from the Burmese Army. The Carl Gustav AT-4 was that famous in Burma.
But Burmese army has
stopped using or been unable to use their AT-4 launchers no more since late 1990s
as the Swedes have stopped selling the launcher-shells to Burmese army after
UN-sponsored European arms-embargo has come into effect since 1996. The high cost
of AT-4 shells on the black market (about US$ 3,000 each) has also prohibited
the Burmese from sourcing the shells from black markets.
Burmese military industry
also started producing their own 81mm and 60mm recoilless-guns with the help of
Israeli Defence Industries. These new Burma-made recoilless guns also made the Burmese army's stock of AT-4 redundant as the new guns are lighter and better.
 |
| Firing 81 mm recoilless launcher the Burmese copy of Carl Gustav AT-4 launcher. |
KIA and Bertil Lintner Lie
again to the World?
As war escalates in Kachin State, ethnic
rebels fighting for independence have accused government troops of attacking
them with Swedish rocket launchers, although media reports suggested the
weapons were delivered from a third country outside Europe.
Kachin Independence Army (KIA) soldiers
found rocket shells from Swedish-made launchers on Monday after two army
helicopters opened fire on their bases, a Burmese war photographer accompanying
the rebels in the conflict zone told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday.
The photographer added that camps for
Kachin refugees in Pangwa region had also been attacked by rocket fire and that
KIA soldiers believed the shells came from an 84 mm rifle commonly known as
Carl Gustaf, which is produced by arms manufacturer Saab Bofors Dynamics in
Sweden.
Their suspicions were confirmed when an
actual rocket launcher and shells were seized by advancing rebel troops.
The revelations have made headlines in
Sweden in light of longstanding EU sanctions against arms sales to Burma,
enacted in response to human rights violations by the former military regime.
Although the United States and European
Union have suspended some economic sanctions since reformist Burmese President
Thein Sein took office last year, arms embargos are still in place as ethnic
conflicts continue in some border states.
Burma is believed to have received the
Swedish-made guns from neighboring India. Bertil Lintner, a Thailand-based
Swedish journalist and author of several books on Burma, said the Burma Army
received the guns from the Indian military.
The Swedish government has pledged to
investigate the issue. According to a report by the UK-based The Independent
newspaper, an investigation was underway in Stockholm after Sweden’s Agency for
Non-Proliferation and Export Controls learned of the KIA’s allegations.”
Desperate KIA issued above press release
stating the capture of a third generation Carl Gustav M-3 launcher from
retreating Burmese troops. The December 12 statement even used that notorious
Burma-hater Bertil Lintner as the eye-witness so that the news would shock Sweden
and affect Swedish public opinion. Following is their additional news release
from KIA cubby hole HQ at Laiza on the Chinese border.
Writing in the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper
on Tuesday, Lintner revealed that the KIO recently acquired an M-3 launcher and
assorted shells following clashes with government forces. Lintner learned of
the weapon's seizures during a recent reporting trip to KIO territory in Kachin
state. Photos of the shells including their serial number have been posted on
the website of the Svenska Dagbladet.
The M-3 Carl Gustav weapon and shells which
remain in the possession of the KIO were produced by Saab Bofors Dynamics, part
of the Saab group, a firm that is one of Europe's largest weapons exporters.
The use of the firing device and the shells by Burma's military is in violation
of the European Union arms ban on Burma and Sweden's own arms exports
regulations.
Despite restrictions that are supposed to
prevent European made weapon's from getting into the hands of Burma's generals
and other blacklisted armed forces, peace advocates have long complained that
both Sweden and the EU do very little to ensure that Swedish and other European
weapon's exports are not re-exported by the approved government's who receive
the weapons. Although it remains unclear how the M-3 Carl Gustav weapons were
acquired by Burma's military it is likely they were sent by a third party and
not directly from Europe.
According
to the Independent of London, the Swedish Agency for Non-Proliferation and
Export Controls (ISP) has launched an investigation into the matter. Reached
for comment Saab Bofors Dynamics spokesperson Sebastian Carlsson told the
Independent that his firm would cooperate with the investigation. He
acknowledged that Saab Bofors Dynamics exports M-3 Carl Gustav weapons to 20
countries but refused to say any of the places where the weapons have been
sent. A sign of what critics have long described as Saab Bofors Dynamics
non-transparent business practices.”
KIA Bought the Launchers
from Corrupt Indian Officers
 |
| Thailand-based Bertil Lintner. |
KIA has recently acquired a few Carl Gustav M3 Anti-Tank launchers to use as bunker-busters against Burmese army’s
fortifications now surrounding their Laiza HQ. Bertil Lintner, himself a Swede
without the knowledge of the weapon’s real history and who has been regularly visiting
KIA positions and seen the distinctive Swedish launchers, might have suggested KIA
a possible political advantage to use these Indian Carl Gustav launchers
against Burmese army.
I do not think Indian government is
stupid enough to officially resell such distinctive Swedish weapons with clear
identifications to the Burmese army like they did with their Indian-made Lee-Enfield
.303 rifles. Salman Kurshid the Indian Foreign Minister now visiting Burma has
also denied the baseless accusations against his government.
Bertil Lintner and his KIA men are so brainlessly-stupid
that they thought they would pull that Carl Gustav stunt with their baseless
lies. Shame on them!
Related posts at following links:
Bertil Lintner's Master Plan for Myanmar?
Related posts at following links:
Bertil Lintner's Master Plan for Myanmar?
