Defense Update Bangladesh

Bangladesh Air Force’s Chief of Air Staff ACM Abu Esrar visited Turkey and met his Turkish counterpart Commander Hassan Kucukakyuz. They discussed various professional matters.  COAS Air Chief Marshal Abu Esrar also met with Turkish Armed Forces Chief of the General Staff General Hulusi Akar and Undersecretary for Defense Industry (SSM) İsmail Demir. COAS ACM Abu Esrar visited Turkish Air Force base and homage tribute to TurAF monument. He also visited various Turkish military aerospace & defense industries. Earlier news came that Bangladesh Air Force interested to buy Turkish attack helicopter TAI T129 ATAK, unmanned aerial vehicle Anka and basic trainer aircraft Hurkus.  Turkey supported Bangladesh’s position in the world forums including United Nations in the Rohingya cases. Myanmar army literally did genocide in the rakhine state against Rohingya peoples. Almost 700,000 Rohingya people fled to Bangladesh from burmese killing operation. Turkish first lady vi...

Bangladesh Army buying SLWH Pegasus 155mm Howitzer Cannon from Singapore. This is a light-weight, air transportable self-propelled howitzer gun developed for the Singapore Armed Forces. ST Kinetics manufactures it. Recently Bangladesh Army was searching for air transportable howitzer for last few months. One of the main condition was air transportability of the cannon.  SLWH Pegasus can be carried by the CH-47 Chinook helicopter and C-130 Hercules tactical airlifter to the deployment area. Bangladesh Air Force operating four C-130Hs and two C-130Js are coming soon.  Bangladesh Army wants to ensure massive retaliatory fire power if myanmar do any misfire towards Bangladesh. Or, if any clash emerge in the border with any neighbor Bangladesh needs sufficient firepower to engage the enemy forces.  Such howitzer can fire extended range guided ammunitions at a range of 30km. Normal firing range if about 19km. How many Pegasus guns will be bought it’s not cle...

Bangladesh Army going to buy new 4x4 light armored vehicles (LAV) from overseas manufacturers. A tender has been issued by the Directorate General of Defense Purchase (DGDP), an arm of the Ministry of Defence of Bangladesh, in last 5th of this November. The DGDP asked for the Rquest for Proposal from actual manufacturers from abroad.  These light armored vehicles will 4x4 all-wheel drive. Protection measures shall meet the NATO Standard STANAG-4569 Level 2 and STANAG-4569 Level 2A for various part of the vehicle.  Some of them will be deployed in the United Nations Peace Keeping Missions in those where Bangladesh Army participating currently.  This procurement differs from the earlier one which is the biggest armored vehicle purchasing by the BA comprises almost 600 units worth $1bn in sum.  Still no vendor has been selected, but soon will be. Other specifications includes a Night Vision System for the driver and gunner. A rooftop remote weapons ...

Bangladesh Navy plans to manufacture anti-ship cruise missiles in home.  Naval planners of Bangladesh considering to produce or assemble anti-ship missile domestically to meet the High Performance Frigate program of the navy. Under “Forces Goal – 2030” modernization program Bangladesh Navy (BN) poised to operate more than a dozens of advanced multirole stealth frigates, stealth corvettes and some other missile carrying small warships. Most of the naval ships will be built in home, mean in Bangladesh. Those guided missile frigates will feature a substantial amount of anti-ship cruise missiles.  To save resources and create defense industry opportunities Bangladesh Navy wants to manufacture those missiles in home. For this purpose BN is searching for a suitable option overseas with transfer-of-technology. This program currently is in preliminary planning phase. On the other side of the modernization process Noubahini already tasked Chittagong Dry Dock Ltd. to build firs...

Here's the 3-D illustration of the Bangladesh Naval Academy Bangladesh Naval Academy is the training institute of country’s navy. Recently government approved a project to renovate this naval training institution with scores of new infrastructures, charming landscapes and with some other facilities. Here it is a mock up presentation of the whole project.

Bangladesh Armed Forces pursuing an extensive modernization process dubbed as the “Forces Goal – 2030”. That’s mean many things will be changed within this time frame to increase Bangladesh’s military strength. Although the plan being implemented, some acquisition programs will depend on the economic condition.  Here the problem is most of the ordinary citizens of Bangladesh doesn't know how defense procurement process works! We tried to make clear how Government of Bangladesh implementing the upgrade process and how much time it will take. This is just an effort to serve rightful information that Bangladeshis needs to know about their state institutions.  Bangladesh don’t publish about all its weapon systems because of many reasons. Some things should be kept in secrecy, it’s a strategy to astonishing enemy in battle. In the coming years Bangladesh Armed Forces will induct many game changing weapons. Many weapons and weapons platforms are great diplomatic tool w...

Bangladesh wants TAI Hurkus basic trainer aircraft, TAI T129 ATAK helicopter and Anka or Bayraktar TB2 UAVs.  Government of Bangladesh interest to buy Turkish manufactured defense hardware. Hurkus is a basic trainer aircraft intended for primary pilot training. Bangladesh Army searching for a suitable attack helicopter option whereas turkey’s T129 ATAK attack helicopter is a contender too. And, Bangladesh wants build a handsome fleet of unmanned aerial systems fleet to better monitor adverse weather conditions as it is a disaster prone country. Drones are effective tool to monitor advance flood situation, SAR missions after cyclone, flood and other natural calamities. Bangladesh Armed Forces sometimes opts for Turkish defense products as those are cheaper than same western ones. Recently turkey developed some decent military equipment like T129 attack helicopter, TAI Anka unmanned aerial vehicle and many armored combat vehicles. Ministry of Defence wants to increase Bangla...

Bangladesh Navy deployed its SWADS in South Sudan in a United Nations Peace Keeping Mission.  Special Warfare Diving And Salvage (SWADS) or the Bangladesh Navy SEAL/UDT is a special warfare branch. UN maintaining some peacekeeping mission in S. Sudan as their promise to bring and maintain stability in the country for better humanitarian situation. Bangladesh has provided a unit of SWADS to the Force Riverine Unit (FRU). It has present in there from 2005.

Bangladesh Navy currently serving a United Nations Peace Keeping Mission in Lebanon. The mission dubbed as United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). Bangladesh Navy guided missile frigate BNS Ali Haider and large patrol craft BNS Nirmul has been deployed in the Mediterranean Sea as the Lebanon mission. BN is the third navy serving in that area. First BNS Osman and BNS Madhumati was deployed.  BN gaining valuable operational experiences by serving in the UNPK Missions in various parts of the world. Many of them are volatile. By providing in the UN Missions Bangladesh also earning much needed foreign currencies which helping country’s economy.

Bangladesh commissioned first home-made ASW warship BNS Durgam into active service. BNS Durgam is a Durjoy-class semi-stealth Anti-Submarine Warfare large patrol craft (LPC) of Bangladesh Navy built by the Khulna Shipyard Limited. A shipbuilder from China provided technical assistances to make the ship. This is the first Bangladesh made ASW warship. Two ship in the class has been commissioned by the Honorable President of Peoples Republic of Bangladesh Advocate Abdul Hamid yesterday.  BNS Durgam ship design is the downsized version of the Chinese PLAN Type 056 stealth corvette. First two ships of this class was built china for Bangladesh Navy. Then china transfer the technology to Khulna Shipyard Limited. Here two dedicated ASW version BNS Durgam and BNS Nishan has been built and four more ships are expected to be built in the next two years.  Bangladesh Navy set a goal to build most of the naval ships in home. As per that plan already some small patrol boats, tug...

BNS Durjoy is the Durjoy class large patrol craft operating by the Bangladesh Navy (BN) from 2013. It is built by the Chinese Wuchang Shipyard. This LPC has a displacement of 648 tons and carry four C-704 anti-ship cruise missiles. An H/PJ-26 76.2 mm forward naval gun, 2 Oerlikon 20 mm cannon and 2 6-tube EDS-25A 250mm ASW rocket launchers are other armaments.  This ship is intended to operate in coastal waters for mainly surface warfare. China built two of this class, named BNS Durjoy and BNS Nirmul, for the Bangladesh Navy. Another two dedicated anti-submarine warfare (ASW) version has been built in the Khulna Shipyard Limited (KSY) recently. Four more are expected.  As Myanmar navy has no submarine yet but indian navy has, Bangladesh Navy surely deploy them near indian water border. After inducting two Chinese Ming-class attack submarines into active service india expressed unprecedented ire of towards Bangladeshi submarine acquisition. Unspecified sources said tha...

Bangladesh Air Force going to induct Chinese FD-2000 long-range surface-to-air missile defense system. This acquisition will be activated just after deployment of the LY-80E medium-range air defense system. BAF currently has no such defensive military equipment rather some FM-90B short-range air defence missile systems in active service. FD-2000 is the export designation of the domestic Chinese version of HQ-9 long-range SAM system. It’s developed by the CPMIEC.  Bangladesh Armed Forces has seeking some affordable and cost-effective air defense systems, which can be integrated into country’s existing air defence command network. BAF previously evaluating some options and choose Chinese one. This SAM platform will be deployed to protect Bangladesh’s important civil-military installations around the country.  This long-range missile defense system has 200km of slant range. Can engage targets up to 27km altitude. Its main search radar can track 100 targets and design...

Russia offered Mig-35 fighter jet to Bangladesh Air Force with transfer-of-technology.  Bangladesh Air Force fighter aircraft procurement program gets a new turnover from Su-30SME towards Mig-35. It’s a nothing strange but, amazingly Russians are offering transfer-of-technology to Bangladesh accordingly. This happens when Su-30SME deal stalled due to various reasons. Russian state defense technology exporter Rosobornexport made the offer to Bangladesh.  It is said in the report that, if Bangladesh Air Force buy Mig-35 jets, these will be manufactured in the Bangabandhu Aeronautical Center in Dhaka. An MRO facility also will be established to support maintenance, repair and future upgrade works. Bangladesh needs medium weight long range fighter jets urgently to maintain air power capabilities.  Myanmar progressing their deal for the JF-17 Thunder license building in home. Talks are going on with both developer of the jet, China & Pakistan, simultaneously. ...

Bangladesh Air Force’s Bangabandhu Aeronautical Center (BAC) is the country’s first of its kind. This is a Bangladesh Ministry of Defense-owned aerospace defense security and advanced technology venture mainly focusing on avionics, aviation, and high-tech electronics. BAC poised to build modern fighter jets in Bangladesh within next decade. BAC’s work domain includes aircraft design, development & manufacturing, and producing avionics systems for country’s armed forces. Manufacture and maintenance of radar, unmanned aerial vehicle and other defense systems for Bangladesh Army & Bangladesh Navy. It also performs maintenance and overhauling of the civil-military airplanes.  There are strict restriction of exporting any product, technology or services to any foreign party. Bangladesh Air Force is operating and managing all the activities of this aviation industry. BAC is going to make operational an F-7 overhaul plant for BAF’s F-BG+F-7BGI fleet upgradation. Unmanned a...

South Korea offered its K21-105 Light Tank to Bangladesh Army (BA). Recently BA has driven for a new type of light battle tank to enhance fire power of the armored divisions. This light tanks will be deployed in the mountainous and jungle areas where most of the heavier main battle tanks can’t operate to various reasons.  South Korean Hanwha Defense Systems manufacturing this tank. K21-105 light tank is based on the K21 infantry fighting vehicle which has been developed by the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) of Republic of Korea Government. Basically the K21-105 light tank has been developed by the Doosan DST & CMI Defence of Belgium. It uses the newly developed XC-8 turret by Cockerill (CMI Defence) which increased its direct fire capability. The XC-8 is based on the Cockerill CT-CV 105HP turret and is fitted with a 105 mm or 120 mm gun. This gun can fire 8 rounds per minute.  This 105mm gun can fire all standard NATO rounds for up-to 10 km range in indi...