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Myanmar Coast Guard
မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ ကမ်းခြေစောင့်တပ်ဖွဲ့
Myanmar Coast Guard; မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ ကမ်းခြေစောင့်တပ်ဖွဲ့
	Racing stripe
	Ensign
Agency overview
Formed	6 October 2021
Employees	30+300 personnel
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction	Myanmar
Operational structure
Overseen by	Myanmar Navy
Headquarters	Yangon
Agency executive	Commodore Ko Ko Kyaw, Director General;

The Myanmar Coast Guard (Burmese: မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ ကမ်းခြေစောင့်တပ်ဖွဲ့) is a maritime law enforcement agency formed to safeguard Myanmar's ocean-based blue economy including marine tourism, maritime trade, deep seaport services, offshore oil and natural gas production and marine fishing, to prevent illegal trespassing in the seas, and to maintain the rule of law at sea.^[2] The Myanmar Coast Guard has a constabulary role in the protection of maritime interests, provides search and rescue for victims in the sea, and works toward sea environmental conservation, monitoring a wide range of activities underwater and above water in Myanmar's water territory.^[3]

History

Background

Until the 2020s, Myanmar was one of the few Asian countries that did not have a force dedicated to offshore patrol.^[2] Maritime security was ensured by the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Police Force's Maritime Police. Operational demands eventually outstripped their abilities, and the superior operational and diplomatic benefits of a paramilitary organization were recognized.^[4]

On 14 March 2019, Myanmar's deputy defence minister submitted a proposal to the Pyithu Hluttaw to establish a national coast guard.^[5] The then-civilian government was making efforts to "civilianize" national security affairs and therefore wanted to establish the coast guard under either the Ministry of Transport and Communications or the President's Office.^[4] However, according to the 2008 Constitution, all of Myanmar's armed forces are controlled by the Chief of Defence Services.^[6]

Establishment

Initiated by the Aung San Suu Kyi-led NLD government in 2018,^[7] the Myanmar Coast Guard was formally established on 6 October 2021^[8] at Thilawa Port in Thanlyin^[9] by Min Aung Hlaing, the ruling junta of the country since the February coup.^[10] It operates under the Ministry of Defence, in close cooperation with the Myanmar Navy, the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Development, the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development and the Myanmar Police Force. The new force's remit is to guard Myanmar's 1930 km of coastal territory and its territorial waters, which encompass 23,070 km² and about 1000 islands.^[7]

Vessels

The Myanmar Coast Guard started out with four former Navy patrol vessels.^[11] These vessels bear the pennant numbers P 311, P 312, P 411 and P 412.^[1]

Offshore Patrol Vessels

Type	Builder	No	Start using date	Arms	Remark
Osprey-50 class ^{[citation needed]}	Danyard A/S, Frederikshavn, Denmark	P-211	1982	1 × 40 mm 60 cal. Bofors AA gun, 2 × 20 mm 70 cal. Oerlikon AA guns

Patrol vessels

Type	Builder	No	Start using date	Arms	Remark
PGM 43 class ^{[citation needed]}	Marinette Marine, Wisconsin; last two by Peterson Builders, Sturgeon Bay, WI, United States	P-411 P-412 P-413 P-414 P-415	1959-1961	1x25mm Twin Barrel AA Gun, 2xMA15 Machine Gun

Fast Patrol Vessels

Type	Builder	No	Start using year	Arms	Remark
5 series class^{[citation needed]}	Myanmar Naval Dockyard	P-311 P-312 P-313	2013-2014	2x25 mm Twin Barrel AA Gun, 2x14.5 mm Single Barrel Gun (DI)
48 m Fast Patrol Cutters^{[citation needed]}	China	P-314 P-315 P-316 P-317	2023-2024	25 mm Twin Barrel AA Gun(DI), 2x.5 inch Heavy Machine Gun (DI)