Bangladesh's 'cracker of a gun' in India R-Day this time

The BD-08 assault gun used by the Bangladesh military is a success story in itself unrivalled even by much bigger powers like India, writes senior journalist Sanjib Kr Baruah

New Delhi: Bangladesh is not known for a lot of things, like making fine weapons, although steel swords made in Dhaka were among the finest in the historic past. Yet the BD-08 assault rifle that is the mainstay weapon of the Bangladesh Army is a unique success story in all of South Asia where much bigger and powerful militaries like that of India and Pakistan dominate in men and material.

And this time during the Republic Day parade in the national capital, the Bangladesh Army contingent will be carrying the BD-08 gun—with a lot of pride—confident of the personal weapon’s tried and tested superlative qualities.

A 122-member strong Bangladeshi contingent is in Delhi to participate in the 2021 Republic Day parade, marking the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Bangladesh from Pakistan. They were flown in from Dhaka in a C-17 aircraft of the Indian Air Force.

Made by the Bangladesh Ordnance Factory (BOF), the BD-08 is a better copy of the original Chinese Type 81 assault rifle and is used extensively by the Bangladesh military replacing the vintage .303 bolt action British origin Lee-Enfield rifles, and Chinese-origin Type 56 and Type 63 rifles.

The BOF itself was set up just outside capital Dhaka with technical help from the Chinese in 1969-70. Now commanded by a major- general-ranked officer of the Bangladesh Army, BOF’s core mandate is to produce the BD-08.

The hunt for a mainstay weapon for the forces began in Bangladesh in 2004. But in about four years of time, it had narrowed down to the BD-08 and production started.

Weighing 4.5 kg, all of 955 mm with an elongated barrel, the BD-08 has an effective range of 500 metres. It uses 7.62x39mm cartridges and can fire 720 rounds per minute. It is comparable to the best rifles including the ubiquitous AK-47.

The success of the BD-08 is more pronounced when seen in the backdrop of the Indian experience.

After the .303s and the slender-barreled Self-Loading Rifles (SLRs), India's experiment with the indigenous INSAS (Indian National Small Arms Systems) guns that uses 5.56x45 mm ammunition has been nightmarish, to say the least.

While a deal to locally manufacture Russian AK 203 (7.62x39mm) is yet to be inked, the Indian Army has procured about 145,000 Sig Sauer infantry rifles (SIG716) from the US on an emergency basis.

The Pakistani military too has not been able to locally produce a unique assault gun till now. As of now it uses a mix of HK G3 and Type 56 weapons as the main assault rifles which are of German and Chinese origin respectively.