The DI MA-1 Mk. III is a family of Myanma-made

Bullpup A bullpup firearm is one with its firing grip located in front of the Chamber (firearms), breech of the weapon, instead of behind it. This creates a weapon with a shorter overall length for a given barrel length, and one that is often lighter, ...

assault rifle An assault rifle is a select fire rifle that uses an intermediate cartridge, intermediate-rifle cartridge and a Magazine (firearms), detachable magazine.C. Taylor, ''The Fighting Rifle: A Complete Study of the Rifle in Combat'', F.A. Moyer '' ...

s chambered for

5.56×45mm NATO The 5.56×45mm NATO (official NATO nomenclature 5.56 NATO, commonly pronounced "five-five-six") is a rimless bottlenecked centerfire intermediate cartridge family developed in the late 1970s in Belgium by FN Herstal. It consists of the SS109, ...

, based on the QBZ-97s that were exported to Myanmar in 2009. Despite claims that Myanmar made them as an indigenous weapon, the MA-1 Mk. IIIs were made without any licensing agreements with China. The MA designation on the weapon means Myanmar Army.

History

Myanmar decided to redesign a bullpup rifle after

Tatmadaw The Tatmadaw, also known as the Sit-Tat, is the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include ...

troops reported multiple failures with the

EMER-K1 The EMER K-1, sometimes known as the EMER K1 or EMERK-1, was a prototype bullpup assault rifle made in Myanmar by the Electrical Mechanical and Engineering Corps (EMEC). Reverse engineering, Reverse engineered in 1995 from the Chinese QBZ-97 assa ...

, an earlier bullpup rifle clone of the QBZ-97, ranging from gun jams to stoppages. At the time, some of them were issued to Tatmadaw forces on patrol duties at the

Yadana gas field The Yadana gas field is an offshore gas field in the Andaman Sea. It is located about offshore to the nearest landfall in Myanmar.Yadana means "treasure" in Burmese. The gas field is an important source of revenue for the Myanmar Army. Gas fro ...

in 1998. Myanmar originally wanted to acquire QBZ-97s and eventually set up a production line to manufacture them on their own, but China refused to honor them due to arms sanctions against the

State Peace and Development Council The State Peace and Development Council ( ; abbreviated SPDC or , ) was the official name of the Military dictatorship, military government of Burma (Myanmar) which, in 1997, succeeded the State Law and Order Restoration Council (; abbrevi ...

. Subsequently, the QBZ-97s previously sold to Myanmar were not returned. The QBZ-97 rifles with Myanmar were

reverse engineered Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompl ...

again; they did not seek Chinese assistance in creating the MA-1 Mk. IIIs. During analysis of the rifles in 2009, they were reported to be suitable for the Tatmadaw in jungle operations. The MA-1 Mk. IIIs were first shown in public in 2012. They were subsequently shown at various Tatmadaw

Armed Forces Day An Armed Forces Day, alongside its Military branch, branch-specific variants often referred to as Army or Soldier's Day, Navy or Sailor's Day, and Air Force or Aviator's Day, is a holiday dedicated to honoring the Military, armed forces, o ...

parades. Plans were made to fully adopt the MA-1 Mk. III by 2016, but it was delayed due to quality issues. At the time, it was reported that the MA-1 Mk. IIIs had poor reliability in the field. Chinese media criticized Myanmar for cloning the QBZ-97 without permission after the rifle was publicly revealed. In 2020, Myanma social media photos showed an improved version of the MA-3 Mk. III, implying that production issues were mostly resolved.

Design

According to the Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M), the rifle family is reportedly being manufactured at DDI's KaPaSa 22 factory. While the MA-1 Mk. III has visual similarities with the QBZ-97, the difference lies with the use of phenolic plastic materials instead of engineered plastics, which gives off the brown finish. Another difference is the shape of the handguard and the vent holes on it. The MA-1 Mk. IIIs do not use the same Type 95 bayonet made for the QBZ-95. Instead, the Tatmadaw uses a clone of the Type 81 bayonet for the rifles. Only the MA-1/3 Mk. III have bayonet lugs installed as a default option. For the MA-3 Mk. III, some of the more recently made carbines have carry handles that have a more rectangular shape, more ergonomic front handguard and vent holes, making it resemble the QBZ-97.

Variants

MA-1 Mk. III

The standard assault rifle variant based on the QBZ-97.

MA-2 Mk. III

The light machine gun variant with a long barrel and a bipod.

MA-3 Mk. III

A carbine variant. Known to be used by Myanma special forces units.

MA-4 Mk. III

A variant of the MA-1 Mk. III equipped with an underbarrel grenade launcher. It is also known to be used by Myanmar special forces units.

Users

* : Tatmadaw, including the Myanmar Navy SEALs.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* {{Bullpup Firearms 5.56×45mm NATO assault rifles 5.56×45mm NATO machine guns Post–Cold War weapons of Myanmar Assault rifles of Myanmar Bullpup rifles Carbines Light machine guns Weapons and ammunition introduced in 2012