Prior to 1988, the previous administrations in Yangon, both civilian and military, did not pay much attention to military modernisation. This resulted in the armed forces (Tatmadaw) being equipped with a variety of platforms and weaponry from a spectrum of providers from the 1950s and 1960s, including Yugoslavia, the UK and the US.

Some of these assets were Second World War surplus equipment, and most of them were tailored towards counterinsurgency (COIN) operations. Therefore, in 1988, the junta began an aggressive plan to transform the Tatmadaw towards conventional warfare.