This article originally appeared on Pacific Forum, and it has since been republished with authority. Read the original around.
Lately, reports about the , bad quality , of Chinese-imported hands and arms have been on the rise among the Armed Forces of Bangladesh. These problems pose significant challenges to Bangladesh’s military readiness and threaten its country’s security.
Beijing is emerging as a dependable, unreliable source of military hardware, which has a significant impact on efforts to modernize Bangladesh’s Armed Forces ( AFB). In light of these circumstances, Dhaka has seriously contemplate its excessive reliance on Chinese weapons and begin efforts to diversify defense imports in order to achieve the AFB’s” Forces Goal 2030” of modernization.
The recent decline of the totalitarian regime of , Sheikh Hasina , and the introduction of new and , rejuvenated leadership , in Dhaka led by Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus makes the requirement of growth of arms imports a crucial security concern.
Thus, steps must be taken by the appropriate politicians in Dhaka to look outside of the lizard’s arsenal. Currently, efforts to increase arms buy from friends like , India , and , Turkey , have been accelerated.
However, these are not enough. Bangladesh should carefully restrict its arms imports from amiable European nations like the US, UK, and France, which have established themselves as arms exporters. It needs to look into emerging wings companies like South Korea and Japan, with whom it has strong economic and political ties.
Lack of major aboriginal arms manufacturing
According to the most recent data released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute ( SIPRI), Bangladesh is the second-largest source of Chinese weapons.
Foreign weapons account for more than , two-thirds , of the entire inventory of the AFB. Critical weapons systems like , Ming-class submarines , or , MBT-2000 tanks  , are of Chinese origin. For development of Chinese weapons may be attributed to factors like , long-term familiarity , with using Taiwanese arms by AFB,  , low cost, and no clear social conditions attached. Another big hands manufacturers to Dhaka include Turkey, the UK, and Russia.
Moreover, Bangladesh lacks an efficient or big defense industrial base. Bangladesh has a very limited arsenal manufacturing capacity. It just produces , little arms, explosives, and numerous utility vehicles internally for the use of its military.
Most of the , domestically produced equipment , is Chinese licensed and acquired through Transfer of Technology ( ToT ). These arms-producing industries do n’t produce any powerful weapons like tanks, artillery, or interceptor jets.
Recently, Bangladesh developed , police vessels , in its indigenous ships for the Navy. These lack the ability to travel on land, in contrast to ships or battleships, and are light-armed.  , So, indigenous security manufacturing and production of Dhaka are far behind self-sufficiency, which lacks technological age, manufacturing capability, and technical competence.
Overall, Dhaka will rely heavily on arms imports to modernize its forces because it wo n’t be able to produce or manufacture major defense systems until it is able to do so under the supervision of ToT.
Modern need of modern weapons
Besides low and low-quality gear, reliance on Chinese stock is homicidal due to the sociopolitical realities surrounding Bangladesh’s neighbors. India has been a near ally, and , ties improved , after the Sheikh Hasina government took power in 2009.
That leaves Myanmar to be the only adversarial position with whom relationships are  , strained , after the , 2017 Rohingya problems. Interestingly, Myanmar ‘s , major arms supplier , is China. The Naypyidaw and Beijing have a very friendly marriage. Thus, China will not provide any significant weapons, which may give Bangladesh an advantage over Myanmar.
Given these flaws, Bangladesh must improve its military forces in light of recent developments both domestically and externally. It won a big win against , Myanmar , and , India , in 2012 and 2014, both, in the foreign courts, and secured a large part of the sea barrier in BoB.
Under such circumstances, it plans to develop a , orange economy , utilizing the natural sources like natural gas, materials, and fish of the BoB. This calls for strengthening the security of the BoB by deploying a worthy Navy, including by using large boats like Frigates. Presently, Bangladesh has  , several such boats, which are not enough to serve for purposes.
The civil war in Myanmar also has an impact on marine development. Activities like Tatmadaw ships , bombarding the insurgents near Saint Martin ‘s , Island detached the peninsula from Bangladesh. It , took the Bangladeshi Navy weeks  , to take ships and take in the materials from the island.
There have even been , some violations , of airport by the Tatmadaw , in recent years. They have previously , opened fire , inside the royal country of Bangladesh. To prevent such incidents, the Bangladesh Air Force ( BAF ) relies on outdated Mig-29s acquired , from Russia in 1999, and obsolete Chinese F-7BGI interceptors to secure its airspace.
In contrast, the Tatmadaw has lately imported significantly more modern , Su-30 fighter jet from Russia. This indicates that Bangladesh and Myanmar’s heat energy is not comparable.
Additionally, in the Chittagong Hill Tracts ( CHT), there has been an insurgency led by the , Kuki Chin National Front , (KNF), which has shown relentless efforts to sabotage , peace talks, attack , public infrastructure, and conduct , remote violence. The , success , of Myanmar’s Chin-based Kuki insurgents and the , conflicts prevailing , in Kuki populations in India’s Manipur perhaps even persuade the KNF rebels in Bangladesh.
In the CHT, they operate under the pretext of dangerous ground. For this reason, the Army must purchase present surveillance vehicles and scout helicopters to carry out counterinsurgency operations in rural areas.
Alternate procurement and diversifying hands imports
In light of these circumstances, Dhaka must be timely in explaining the need to expand arms imports and achieve the Forces Goal 2030. By acquiring weapons from other sources, Beijing’s conventional arms dependency may be replaced or strengthened.
Standard European sources like the US and UK may not be able to deliver the necessary tools in time because of the conflict in Ukraine. However, Dhaka must , continue robust defence cooperation , and partnerships with Washington and London. The arms deal may strengthen the relationships between the US and UK with Bangladesh given the current political conflict.
This is further corner Beijing’s influence over Dhaka. Besides, France remains a possible owner, as it has become , the second-largest hands exporter , lately. Paris now has previously , signed papers of intent , in 2021 on security assistance with Dhaka, which should be utilized by the GoB.
Establishing relationships with significant arms manufacturers in the south can help to boost efforts to obtain northern sources. India, Turkey, South Korea, and Japan remain the , most feasible alternatives  , in this regard.
With a new shipment of APCs lately delivered last month, Bangladesh has accelerated its security procurement with India. Turkey has already , supplied drones, jet artilleries and missiles , to Dhaka. Defense politics with both New Delhi and Ankara is being expanded by Dhaka through , seminars , and , conversations. To build a Dell in Bangladesh, these must be strengthened in order to obtain license production by acquiring domestically produced American and Turkish arms.
Lastly, leverage the country’s warm relations with East Asian nations like Japan and South Korea to expand the supply of technology. Tokyo is just considering , exporting hands to Dhaka, which presents a major opportunity to access the Chinese stock.
Also, South Korea has become a , major arms supplier. Bangladesh purchased one of its current frigates, named  , BNS Bangabandhu, which was manufactured by South Korea in 1999. So, steps must also be taken to refresh like defense ties with Seoul. Making the initiatives above operational will help to make the AFB a competent 21st-century government.
Khandakar Tahmid Rejwan ( [email protected] )  , is a research data analyst at the Bangladesh Peace Observatory under the Centre for Alternatives ( CA ) and previously worked as a research associate-STT at the World Bank.