Myanmar is steeped in its largest ever defence project, developing indigenous stealth frigates to give the country’s small navy an expeditionary warfare fleet. While it is only to be expected that China will be a principle contractor for the technology, the Than Shwe government has expressed its keenness to deepen the Indian involvement for its shipbuilding know-how and maritime expertise.Arms supply for the Myanmarese project will be one of the subjects of discussion when Navy Chief Admiral Arun Prakash visits Yangon next week. Apart from selling Yangon the Navy’s remaindered BN-2 Islander aircraft, Admiral Prakash will also discuss the supply of deck-based air defence guns and other weapons for the new Myanmarese frigates when he meets the country’s second-in-command General Maung Aye.In fact, two frontline ships from Vishakapatnam—the destroyer INS Ranjit and the missile corvette INS Kuthar—went to Myanmar late last December on a goodwill visit, during which a display of the ships’ cutting-edge armaments is understood to have been undertaken as well. A Myanmar Navy officer here said that a small team from Yangon would visit New Delhi, Kolkata, Pune and Bangalore in a few months, to get updates on ship technology for its ship-building projects. The country is also developing smaller indigenous vessels, including light attack boats and coastal surveillance and rescue craft. Meanwhile, Myanmar’s UMS Anawrahta is currently docked in Port Blair—a home-built corvette with 15 officers and 86 sailors, here for exercises with eight other regional navies. Just 77 metres long, with a displacement of only 1,088 tons, this Class-771 corvette is the largest vessel in the Myanmar Navy, officer’s said. The ship sailed from Yangon to Coco Island, the country’s forward base north of the Andaman Islands, and then sailed down to Port Blair, in 24 hours.Commander Ko Ko Kway, the captain of the Anawrahta, told The Indian Express: ‘‘We are building larger ships of the frigate type. The project is still under development, but the ships will be built completely by ourselves at the Myanmar shipyards.’’ The frigate project will give Myanmar much larger vessels of at least a 3,000-ton displacement, similar in dimensions to the Indian Leander-class frigates.
