The Republic of Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) appeared in December 1971 as a result of the Indo-Pakistani war. Delhi then won a complete victory. And the main goal of the confrontation was the final split of enemy No. 1, that is, the creation of Bangladesh.
However, Dhaka has now spiraled out of Delhi's control and moved under the wing of Beijing, becoming part of its plan to strategically encircle India. Accordingly, most of the military equipment of the Bangladesh Armed Forces is made in China. A certain amount of weapons and military equipment are purchased in the Republic of Korea, the USA, Great Britain, Russia, and Turkey. The country is extremely overpopulated and poor, but it is investing heavily in the development of the Armed Forces.
The ground forces include nine infantry divisions - 9, 10, 11, 17, 19, 24, 33, 55, 66th. In addition, there is the 46th infantry, 6th air defense, 14th engineering, 86th brigade communications, army aviation regiment.
The tank fleet consists of Chinese-made vehicles: 44 of the most modern MVT-2000 (export version of the Ture 96), 255 Ture 59G (an upgraded copy of the T-54), up to 169 Ture 69-II (further modernization of the same T-54). In terms of the number of BTR-80s, the country ranks second after Russia - 635 units (including 80 BTR-80A). There are Soviet MTLB (134) and BTR-70 (58), as well as Egyptian Fahd (60), Chinese YW-531 (50), Turkish Cobra (44), Serbian BOV M11 (8). Plus 44 heavy armored personnel carriers on the chassis of tanks - 30 Russian BTR-T / T-54, 14 Chinese Ture 62, both modifications are operated only in Bangladesh. BTR-70, MTLB and Fahd are used exclusively in UN operations abroad.
The artillery includes 52 self-propelled guns (22 Chinese Type 62 on the chassis of the light tank of the same name and 30 Serbian Nora), 319 towed guns (115 Italian M-56 and 50 American M101A1, the rest are Chinese: 62 Type 54-1, copied from our M -30, 20 Tour 83, 54 Tour 96, replica D-30, 18 Tour 59-1), 522 mortars (American M-29A1, French MO-120, Yugoslav UBM-52, but mostly Chinese), 18 MLRS WS-22. ATGM: 114 modern Chinese HJ-8 and 120 newest Russian Metis-M. The military air defense system is entirely made in China. There are 8 fairly modern FM-90 air defense systems, 21 old HN-5A MANPADS (a copy of Strela-2) and 250 newest QW-2, 166 anti-aircraft guns. Army aviation includes 5 American light transport aircraft (4 Cessna-152, 1 Cessna-208) and 6 helicopters (2 American Bell-206L and Bell-407, 2 French AS365N).
Bangladesh Air Force is stationed at 4 VVB. All combat aircraft in the 4 squadrons are in the two VVBs in the Dhaka area: 5th (J-6, J-7), 8th (MiG-29), 21st (Q-5), 35th (J-7). There are also two helicopter squadrons: 9th (Bell-212), 31st (Mi-17). At the VVB in Jessore there are three training squadrons: 11th (CJ-6), 15th (T-37V, SM-170), 18th (Bell-206). The 25th combat training aircraft (JJ-6, L-39), the 3rd transport squadron and the 1st helicopter (Mi-17) squadron are deployed at the VVB in Chittagong. The most modern of the combat aircraft are 8 Russian MiG-29s (including 2 combat training MiG-29UB). But the main fighter of the Bangladesh Air Force is the Chinese J-7, created on the basis of the MiG-21. Now there are up to 57 of them (up to 13 old MBs, 12 new BGs, 12 even newer BGIs, as well as up to 20 combat training - up to 12 JJ-7, 4 JJ-7BG, 4 JJ-7BGI). There are 7 transport aircraft (3 Soviet An-32, 4 American C-130V) and about 70 training aircraft (up to 7 Czechoslovak L-39ZA, Chinese CJ-6A, K-8W and JJ-6, 13 newest Russian Yak-130). Multipurpose and transport helicopters: 4 Bell-206L and up to 15 Bell-212, at least 40 Russian Mi-17 and up to 9 Mi-8, 2 Italian AW139.
The Bangladesh Navy includes 2 Chinese submarines of the 035G project. The basis of the surface forces are frigates. This class is represented by 6 ships: Bangabandhu (South Korean-built Ulsan type), Osman (Chinese project 053H1), 2 Abu Bakr (Chinese project 053H2), 2 Somudro (American coast guard ships of the Hamilton "Equipped with Chinese anti-ship missiles C-802). In addition, one old English frigate of Project 061 is used as a training frigate. It is known about 6 corvettes: 2 "Bijoy" (English "Castle") and 2 "Durjoy" (newest, Chinese construction), all of them are armed with Chinese anti-ship missiles S-704, as well as 2 "Shadhinot" (Chinese project 056, possibly built 2 more). 15 patrol ships: 5 Padma, 1 Madhumati (Korean Sea Dragon), 5 Kapatahaya (English Island), 4 Sayed Nazrul (Italian Minerva). There are 4 Chinese-built missile boats, however, outdated (Project 021 Huangfeng). In addition, there are 4 Chinese Huchuan-class hydrofoil torpedo boats. There are many patrol boats of different types: 2 Meghna, 1 Nirbhoy (Chinese project 037 Hainan), 4 Titash (Korean Sea Dolphin), 2 Akshay, 4 Shahid (4 more in the layup) and 1 "Barkat" (Chinese project 062 "Shanghai"), 1 "Salam" (missile boat "Huangfeng" without anti-ship missiles), 1 "Bishkali", 2 "Karnafuli" (Yugoslavian "Kraljevitsa"), 6 "Pabna". The Navy has 5 minesweepers: 1 "Sagar" (Chinese project 010), 4 types of "Shapla" (British type "River") and 15 landing boats (of which 5 are Chinese type "Yuchin"). Naval aviation includes 2 German Do-228 patrol aircraft and 2 Italian AW109E helicopters.
There are no foreign troops on the territory of the country, while its armed forces are very widely used in UN operations around the world.
In general, the Armed Forces of Bangladesh have significant combat potential, although, of course, it is incomparable with that of India ("In a healthy Delhi - a healthy mind"). At the same time, due to the problem of the Rohingya refugees, there has recently been a threat of conflict with neighboring Myanmar, whose military power ("Fleet to fight the partisans") is about the same. However, it is extremely difficult for these countries to fight among themselves for geographical reasons (a very short common border) and senseless - for military-political reasons. In particular, when the country is catastrophically overpopulated, it is much more profitable for Bangladesh to present itself as a victim of an influx of refugees and receive at least some help from the "world community" for this, rather than to arrange a massacre with its neighbors.
