Defense Update Bangladesh

Bangladesh Air Force newly purchased 8 Russian Su-35 advanced multirole fighter jets. Previously BAF wanted to buy Su-30SME but later it choose better than that. Eight Fulcrum-F fighter aircrafts will boost Bangladesh’s air power in an unprecedented level. Bangladesh Air Force ordered the Su-35ME variant, which came as a new derivative. The expected delivery date isn’t published yet. And Dhaka didn’t make any announcement yet, too. Hope, very soon both party will brief about this Su-35 dealings.  On the other side of the Moscow’s military diplomacy they sold six Su-30 to the myanmar air force. Russian news agency Tass reported that the deal has been signed during Russian defence minister Sregey Shoigu’s visit to the country. Bangladesh’s purchase of Su-35 may irk india. It is surely give an edge over the myanmar air power. But, indian air force may face serious challenge in the region due to advancement making by the Bangladesh Air Force. Earlier we learned that a squadron

Bangladesh Coast Guard is responsible for the security of the country’s coastal regions. Primarily it was just a riverine type force. Now Government of Bangladesh take initiatives to improve BCG’s patrolling capabilities and expanding the force.  General activities and modernization process of Bangladesh Coast Guard has been presented in this documentary film.

Earlier in 2017 Beijing offered $1 billion loan to Dhaka to buy military aircrafts from China, which was made under Bangladesh Air Force fighter aircraft procurement program. It includes Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group’s J-10C multirole fighter jets for BAF. This is the latest variant of the J-10, of which Chinese air force operating 250+ units and PLANAF has 24+ jets in active services. Bangladeshi pilots are being trained in China to fly them. These J-10C fighter aircrafts will hugely boost Bangladesh Air Force’s operational capabilities to a new level. Gradually older combat jets will be phased out by these birds, mostly Chengdu built F-7 series aircrafts.  On the other side of the page, myanmar air force reportedly buying 6 Su-30MK from Russia. Bangladesh Air Force wanted to buy Su-30SME or Su-35. But Moscow tricked Dhaka with prices. And then offered their new development Mig-3 Fulcrum-F multipurpose fighter jet which has been claimed as 4++ generation fighter jet by the

Bangladesh Air Force will buy a squadron of Russian Mig-35 multirole fighter jets. Government of Bangladesh will finance the procurement. No loan will be taken to buy them. But, India offered a $500 million line-of-credit to Dhaka to purchase Mig-35, as many news outlet reported. But it is skeptical why india wants to finance Bangladesh Air Force’s fighter aircraft purchase? As observers assumed, india wants to create technical influence over Bangladesh Armed Forces. India has some political and cultural in Bangladesh but it lacks such influence over the armed forces of the country.  From recent defense purchases of Dhaka irks india, especially, buying submarines from China. Previously india pressurized Bangladesh Government to accept indian proposal for a 25-year defense agreement and buy defense equipment from them. But, Bangladesh Army strongly rejected the idea.  After that Delhi found a new way to shackle Bangladesh’s defense modernization by pushing in their money in

Bangladesh Air Force has a missile inventory mainly consists of air-to-air missile (AAMs) systems. Most of these AAMs was bought along with the fighter jets BAF bought. The origins of those missiles are Russia and China as Bangladesh operating only Chinese & Russian combat aircrafts.  Here we showed some available figure of those missile inventory currently Bangladesh Air Force deployed in the line of active duty. There’s no price for peace other than maintaining it. Bangladesh is a peace loving country and always work to uphold the stability of the region.  All Bangladesh’s weaponry are defensive. There are no any industrial facility to produce such high tech defense equipment in country. Hence Bangladesh relied on foreign sources to acquire air-to-air missile systems. The Mig-29s & Yak-130s of BAF carry Russian made R-27 & R-73 air-to-air missiles. The number of the dogfight weapons are unknown. On the other hand Chinese Chengdu Aerospace Corporation built F-BGIs

Bangladesh Air Force Fighter Jet Pilot Training. Pilots fly a machine into the sky needs great skills. It demands brightest brains as well smart training. Bangladesh Air Force trains their fighter aircraft pilots with world class standard. There are helicopter and tactical transport aircrafts too in BAF to be flown. Hence they need sufficient quality pilots.  For the purpose Bangladesh Air Force recruit new general duty pilots every year and train them with modern, advanced technologies. Here, when a gentleman cadet enters into the BAF Academy they fly various types of trainer aircrafts. Those includes PT-6 basic trainer aircraft which are Chinese origin. And then trainee pilots goes to sky with intermediate jet trainers like K-8W Karakorum and L-39ZA. For more advanced jet training BAF train their flying students with most advanced Yak-130 fighter trainers.  After completing necessary initial flying training those new fighter pilots gets training on the FT-7 & Mig-29U

How powerful Bangladesh Air Force’s Mi35M is will be! Earlier BAF planned to buy six Russian Helicopters Mi-35M multipurpose attack helicopters. Currently there’s no dedicated attack choppers not in the Bangladesh Air Force or Bangladesh Army. This will be the first. Here we analyzed about the Mi-35M’s combat payloads and other operational capabilities. This helicopter can carry 2400 kg external weight with under-fuselage sling. It can also carry 8 fully geared troops as well as can operate medical evacuation missions.

Bangladesh Air Force started to setup manufacturing plant to produce rubberized & glass spare parts of Chinese origin military aircrafts at Bangladesh Aeronautical Complex.  A tender has been issued to the international parties to build a plant which will manufacture specific spare parts for the F-7BGI fighter jets, K-8W Karakorum and PT-6 trainer aircrafts. The building of the plant have to be completed within 2017-2018 fiscal year.  In long-term, Bangladesh Air Force has planned to manufacture advanced fighter jets, medium altitude long-endurance UAVs and avionics systems. In order to keep existing aircraft fleet, including fixed-wing & rotary wing, BAC will setup several overhauling plant.  An overhauling plant for the F-7BGIs being materialized and another one for the Russian built Mi-17 series of helicopters also been planned. These aviation industry facilities will boost Bangladesh’s defense equipment manufacturing capabilities to a greater extent.

Bangladesh Army Took Delivery of Cobra II LAV. Cobra is an Otokar development mainly for Turkish Land Forces. Turkey exported it to various other countries too. Latest advanced variant is the Cobra II which includes a variety of vehicles. Bangladesh Army bought Cobra I as well as Cobra II LAV version.  This light armored vehicles (LAVs) has been leased in the United Nations Peace Keeping Missions in Africa. BD Army’s Cobra II LAVs has fitted with a remote weapon station features a 12.7mm machine gun along with automatic grenade launcher. A short range SAM system or ATGMs can also be added in the rooftop of this combat vehicle.  Bangladesh Army ordered this vehicle as a commercial-off-the-shelf order to meet the urgent requirement. Initially 150-200 units has been bought to deploy in the UNPK missions. Later, more units will be ordered to equip the mechanized brigades.  Recently Bangladesh-Turkey defense relations growing than ever. Bangladesh buying military equipment

Bangladesh Air Force bought Yak-130 advanced jet trainer cum light attack aircraft, though it was several times crashed during development! And, even, just after induction there was a fatal accident of this trainer plane. This is the latest Russian trainer plane that enter in service after the fall of Soviet Union.  So, why Bangladesh bought it? Bangladesh Air Force bought Yak-130 fighter trainer aircraft to train their pilots for 4.5th generation and fifth generation fighter jets. It is also can be armed to fight low-intensity aerial & ground threats. Hence BAF choose it as a cost-effective solution.  Other options like South Korean KAI T-50, Chinese Hongdu L-15 and Italian Leonardo M-346 are the analogous of the Yak-130. Among these, Leonardo M-346 is the Italian variant of the Yakovlev-130. And, Italy can’t sell their variant to non-NATO countries as the agreement bares them. On the other side, Korean T-50 is much costly for Bangladesh Air Force in terms of price and ma

Bangladesh working to develop Short-Range Ballistic Missiles (SRBMs) to safeguard its sovereignty and peace in the region. Military sources claim that the project being proceeded with following all international regulations & laws. As a peace lover nation Bangladeshis has reputation to long serve in the United Nations Peace Keeping Missions abroad. But the Government of Bangladesh decided to have some deterrent power to maintain peace and stability of the country as well as in the region. Some recent regional incidents make Bangladesh Armed Forces to acquire such deterrence capabilities.  Still it is not known the name of the program or any other details about the weapons system. But it’s obvious that Bangladesh needs foreign assistances to make this project successful. The country don’t have any such industrial capabilities in public sector. So, the whole program being conducted under the BOF supervision. The exact range and payloads is completely secret. It’s a strong gu

Bangladesh Air Force to buy Airbus Defense & Space C295 early warning and control aircraft.  Recently news reports says that BAF wants to procure an airborne early warning & control (AEW&C) to enhance force’s surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. Airborne Early Warning & Control System is such an asset that can give a military huge operational capabilities over its foes. Latest generation AEW&C aircrafts features including advanced AESA radars which can search & track various types of targets. It look up to enemy territories from friendly airspaces. A tank sized object can be tracked perfectly with the C295 AEW&C platform. Any large enemy troop movement, naval warships and aerial targets like fighter jets and drones can be tracked easily. C295 AEW&C aircraft can feed those search and track data to friendly fighter jets and land based war machines to take necessary measures against. This platform has a range of maximum 450km. It can b

Two new air bases for Bangladesh Air Force. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that two new air force base will be built in Sylhet and Barisal to enhance BAF’s operational capabilities. There are no air base in the respective districts.  PM Hasina said about these two bases in her speech during the passing out parade of the newly commissioned officers of the BAF in Jessore. She also stated that Bangladesh Air Force will be one of the most powerful air force in Asia.  Sylhet district of Bangladesh don’t have any air base there right now. Almost 60% of the natural resources are in Sylhet and it is an important region to secure country’s national interest. So setting up an air base in Sylhet will give Bangladesh Air Force essential operational capabilities to face any adversary from that specific regional point.  On the other hand Barisal situated in the middle of the Bangladesh’s coastline. It is safer position for setting high value military installations there. An air b

A Bangladesh Air Force Mi-171 VIP transport helicopter has been crash landed with Chief of Staff Kuwait Armed Forces Lt. General Mohammed Khaled Al Khader. This incident was happened in the Shrimangal, Moulvibazar district of Bangladesh. 16 passengers including half a dozen Kuwaiti military high officials was onboard the helicopter. Pilot of the BAF Mi-171 helicopter landed the helicopter from the exact landing point due to thick fog and adverse weather conditions. He, then tried his best to land the chopper in safer position. And by his acts all passenger was able to safely evacuated from the crash landed helicopter. After the incident Chief of Staff Mohammed Al Khader said to media that he is amazed by the skills of the Bangladesh Air Force pilot. He praised that pilot’s efforts and expressed his gratitude to the Chief of Army Staff General Abu Belal Mohammad Shafiul Haque. A 10 member delegation of the Kuwait Armed Forces currently visiting Bangladesh to enhance bilateral defens

Laser and satellite guided munitions of the Bangladesh Air Force.  BAF aircrafts deployed mainly Russian & Chinese precision guided munitions (PGMs). PGMs are those aerial munitions which are guided by the laser, satellite & TV guidance systems. These guided munitions are mostly bought along with Russian Mig-29 & Yak-130s, and from China those were came to the Bangladesh Air Force’s inventory with Chinese F-7BGI, K-8W Karakorum and A-5 Fantan fighter jets.  BAF has 250 kg KAB-250LG & 500 kg KAB-500L Russian laser and satellite guided weapons. While Chinese LS and LT series are in active service.  Precision Guided Munitions are used in ground/surface strikes. From low value to high value targets can be destroyed by these weapons. There are various category of PGMs depending on its guidance systems, weights, range etc. Normally these are LGB (Laser Guided Bomb), Satellite Guided Bomb, TV Guided Bomb and unguided free-fall bombs. Some ground strike weapons, ot

In 2017 three Yak-130 advanced jet trainer aircraft of Bangladesh Air Force has been crashed.  Reasons behind the crash was technical faults like problems in digital fly-by-wire (FBW) & flight management systems.  The crash happened in 11 July in 2017 was proved to be for the faults in the digital FBW. And then the latest crash happened in last 27 December 2017. Previous accidents in Russia also happened due to technical or design faults. So it can be assumed that the Yak-130 jet trainer has serious faults in its sub-systems. If the problem does not sort out and fixed it will create disaster as in terms of pilot’s lives and money. Bangladesh Air Force got compensation from Russia for July crash as it was manufacturer’s fault. The result came out after joint investigation by the Russian and Bangladeshi authority.

Here is a comprehensive list of all yak-130 fighter trainer aircraft crashes including Bangladesh Air Force ones too.  Accidents started with the Yak-130 trainer jet from the very beginning of its development. First crash of a prototype was happened in 2006 and a pre-series Yak crashed in 2010.  After these incidents there were some more such accidents happened with the Russian Air Force and Bangladesh Air Force Yak-130s.  Last Yak-130 crashed in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. All accidents indicates this aircraft’s faulty flight management system.