Kyaw Swar Lin

General
Kyaw Swa Linn
General Kyaw Swa Linn
ကျော်စွာလင်း
	Kyaw Swar Lin attends a ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary of the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) in Naypyidaw
Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 30 March 2026
Commander-in-Chief	Ye Win Oo
Preceded by	Soe Win
Commander-in-Chief of Myanmar Army
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 30 March 2026
Appointed by	Ye Win Oo
Preceded by	Ye Win Oo
Chief of the General Staff of Army, Navy, Air
	In office; 18 December 2024 – 30 March 2026
Appointed by	Min Aung Hlaing
Preceded by	Maung Maung Aye
Succeeded by	Ko Ko Oo
Member of the; State Security and Peace Commission
	In office; 31 July 2025 – 10 April 2026
Chairman	Min Aung Hlaing
Personal details
Born	1971 (age 54–55)
Spouse	Nan Ku Ku
Education	Defence Services Academy
Military service
Allegiance	Myanmar
Branch/service	Myanmar Army
Rank	General

Kyaw Swar Lin (also spelt as Kyaw Swa Lin, Burmese: ကျော်စွာလင်း) is a Burmese military general who is currently serving as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services and Commander-in-Chief (Army). Previous to this, he was appointed as Chief of the General Staff (Army, Navy and Air).

He was a member of the State Security and Peace Commission.

Early life and education

Born in 1971, Kyaw Swar Lin graduated from the 35th intake of the Defense Services Academy.

Career

Kyaw Swar Lin served as a junior officer to Lieutenant-General Moe Myint Tun, commander of the Bureau of Special Operations. They served together on operations in Rakhine State prior to 2018. However, Kyaw Swar Lin came to prominence when he was appointed head of Tatmadaw's Mandalay-based Central Command, ranked as a Major General in 2018. In May 1971, he was the youngest person ever to be promoted to Lieutenant General within the Tatmadaw. He was also appointed quartermaster general, succeeding Lieutenant General Nyo Saw, who retired.

Kyaw Swar Lin runs the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), and sits on Myanma Economic Holdings Limited’s patron group under Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing. He also manages the military budget, which has accounted for 13%-15% of the overall national budget every year since 2012.

Post-coup involvement

As the commander of the Myanmar military (or Tatmadaw)’s Central Command, he is accused of ordering soldiers to open fire on anti-regime protesters in Mandalay in February and March 2021. He was appointed to the State Security and Peace Commission upon its formation in 2025.

Personal life

Kyaw Swar Lin is married to Nan Ku Ku, a medical doctor, and has a daughter, Nan Lin Lae Oo, who is in her final year studying international studies at Toyo University.

References

↑ "Incumbent Deputy Commander-in-Chief Hands Over Responsibilities to Successor". GNLM.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
↑ "Min Aung Hlaing makes himself military supremo for life". Myanmar NOW. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
↑ "Asia in Review SEA Myanmar 2019-2020 | German-Southeast Asian Center of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance (CPG)".
↑ "Min Aung Hlaing reshuffles senior military ranks ahead of election". 19 May 2020.
↑ "INFAMOUS MYANMAR MILITARY SKIP GENERATION MONOPOLY MAY2020". Retrieved 1 May 2022.
↑ "Younger Myanmar Military Officers Promoted to Key Roles in Reshuffle". The Irrawaddy. 11 May 2020.
↑ "Systemic Conflict of Interest in Myanmar Military Allows for Serious Corruption". Progressive Voice. 17 June 2020.
↑ "Military-Corporate conflicts of interest 'inflame' Myanmar's civil wars, rights group says". Myanmar NOW.
1 2 "Social Media Campaign Shames Adult Children of Senior Myanmar Junta Members". The Irrawaddy. 22 March 2021.
↑ "NUG supports sanctions against family members of coup leaders, human rights minister says". Myanmar NOW.
↑ Maung Kavi (31 July 2025). "Myanmar Junta Boss Forms New Government With Eye on December Election". The Irrawaddy. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
↑ "စစ်ကောင်စီတွင် တာဝန်အရှိဆုံး စစ်ဗိုလ်ချုပ်ကြီးများ". Myanmar NOW (in Burmese). Retrieved 3 August 2022.
↑ San Yeik Nyein (23 May 2025). "Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing attended Russia's 80th annual Victory Day parade in Moscow's Red Square on May 9, accompanied by his wife and her favorite fellow generals' wives. One new face spotted on the Russia trip was Daw Khin May Soe, wife of Chief of General Staff (Army, Navy, Air Force) General Kyaw Swar Lin". The Irrawaddy.

[1] "Incumbent Deputy Commander-in-Chief Hands Over Responsibilities to Successor". GNLM.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[2] "Min Aung Hlaing makes himself military supremo for life". Myanmar NOW. Retrieved 19 February 2023.

[auto1-3] "Asia in Review SEA Myanmar 2019-2020 | German-Southeast Asian Center of Excellence for Public Policy and Good Governance (CPG)".

[4] "Min Aung Hlaing reshuffles senior military ranks ahead of election". 19 May 2020.

[5] "INFAMOUS MYANMAR MILITARY SKIP GENERATION MONOPOLY MAY2020". Retrieved 1 May 2022.

[6] "Younger Myanmar Military Officers Promoted to Key Roles in Reshuffle". The Irrawaddy. 11 May 2020.

[7] "Systemic Conflict of Interest in Myanmar Military Allows for Serious Corruption". Progressive Voice. 17 June 2020.

[8] "Military-Corporate conflicts of interest 'inflame' Myanmar's civil wars, rights group says". Myanmar NOW.

[auto-9] 1 2 "Social Media Campaign Shames Adult Children of Senior Myanmar Junta Members". The Irrawaddy. 22 March 2021.

[10] "NUG supports sanctions against family members of coup leaders, human rights minister says". Myanmar NOW.

[11] Maung Kavi (31 July 2025). "Myanmar Junta Boss Forms New Government With Eye on December Election". The Irrawaddy. Retrieved 31 July 2025.

[12] "စစ်ကောင်စီတွင် တာဝန်အရှိဆုံး စစ်ဗိုလ်ချုပ်ကြီးများ". Myanmar NOW (in Burmese). Retrieved 3 August 2022.

[13] San Yeik Nyein (23 May 2025). "Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing attended Russia's 80th annual Victory Day parade in Moscow's Red Square on May 9, accompanied by his wife and her favorite fellow generals' wives. One new face spotted on the Russia trip was Daw Khin May Soe, wife of Chief of General Staff (Army, Navy, Air Force) General Kyaw Swar Lin". The Irrawaddy.