Numerous reports of suspicious infrastructural developments in Myanmar’s Coco Islands has not gone unnoticed by top Indian officials. A latest report by India Today suggests that MQ-9 reaper drone, leased to India by the United States has been reconnoitering the nearby areas of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. That the Coco Islands is seeing fast-paced development can be corroborated by recent satellite imagery. It revealed numerous construction activities being conducted in the island, possibly under Chinese eyes. The approximate distance of the islands from India’s strategic Andaman and Nicobar Islands is merely 55 km.
The latest report on these surveillance activities by India suggests that it is actively monitoring suspicious activities in the Coco Islands. The primary concern here is the fact that China may aim to use these islands for intelligence gathering on Indian military activities. For those unaware, Myanmar has pursued an increasingly cozy relationship with the Chinese following its February 2021 coup.
The report cited open-source data which indicated that a drone, “possibly the MQ-9B Sea Guardian, conducted an approximately four-hour survey of the Coco Islands on April 12”. This coincided with a recent visit by Myanmar’s top military leader to the neighboring Coco Islands.
Interesting route taken by an #IndianNavy MQ-9 Reaper drone in the second week of April 2023 around Coco Island (Myanmar) where an airbase is undergoing modernization along with other developmentsRead more here – https://t.co/OTBfF4RGlq pic.twitter.com/8VB7hv6E5n
— Damien Symon (@detresfa_) May 8, 2023
The report added that a Fokker-70 aircraft from the Myanmar Air Force landed on the Coco Islands on April 9. There is high probability that aircraft was carrying General Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the military coup in 2021.
The report clarified that the aviation data aggregator Flightradar24 even though identifies the drone as the ‘Reaper’ version, it could well be the ‘SeaGuardian’ version. This is because the aircraft is probably using a generic registration associated with the manufacturer. India currently does not operate the ‘Reaper’ version yet.
A leased MQ-9 operated by the Indian Navy loitered along the edge of the Indian ADIZ for two hours last month, covering a 100km-radius surveillance area. One of two MQ-9s leased to India, it is equipped with an optical sensor and a maritime search radar. https://t.co/wzxlSYo7fI pic.twitter.com/cZyeuzCbU4— Amelia Smith (@ameliairheart) May 8, 2023
There has always been speculation that Myanmar’s Coco Island was a Chinese intelligence facility. While there is no concrete evidence for this, satellite images captured in January 2023, revealed the presence of a newly extended 2,300-meter runway, a radar station, two recently constructed hangars, an apparent accommodation block, and a newly constructed causeway connecting to a smaller neighboring island.
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