New Delhi: With an eye on enhancing its influence and sway, China is supplying 44 reinforced VT5 light tanks to Bangladesh with the South Asian country likely to order more in the near future as Bangladesh is believed to be pursuing plans to set up at least three light tank regiments.
While the deal for 44 VT5 tanks was inked in 2019, rumours were doing the rounds that the first VT5 tank landed in Bangladesh on April 23, 2020, but it is only recently that the rumours have been confirmed with pictures of VT5 tanks in Bangladesh army colours being driven inside the factory premises of state-owned China weapons maker NORINCO (North Industries Corporation) industries in Inner Mongolia.
Reports indicate that the version of the tank being sold to Bangladesh is loaded with more modern and improved features than the Type 15 tank deployed by the PLA across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) beyond Ladakh.
The about 30-ton easily manoeuvrable and transportable tank has a maximum speed of 70 km an hour, is equipped with a 105mm smoothbore gun, 12.7mm machine gun, 35mm grenade launcher, with powerful protection capabilities among other features.
Bangladesh is already working on a plan to modernize its military where China is deemed to be a major supplier.
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In 2017, Bangladesh commissioned two China-made submarines—BN Nabajatra and BN Joyjatra—into its Navy. About 76 metres long and 7.6 metres wide, both these submarines are equipped with lethal torpedoes and mines with the considerable capability to attack enemy warships and submarines.
In fact, Bangladesh Army's mainstay weapon, the hugely successful BD-08 assault rifle, is also a variant of the original Chinese Type 81 assault rifle. The BD-08, built with technical help from the Chinese, replaced the vintage .303 bolt action British origin Lee-Enfield rifles and Chinese-origin Type 56 and Type 63 rifles.
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.
China is also the supplier of Bangladesh’s Main Battle Tank (MBT 2000) and the Type-69 medium tanks. Among other equipment and weapons, China is among the main suppliers for anti-tank missiles and rockets, rocket-propelled grenades, and mortars, towed artillery, air defence systems including MANPADS, anti-aircraft guns, and radars.
It is also the China-made Chengdu F7 that is among the frontline fighter aircraft of the Bangladesh air force.
Asian giants India and China—currently undergoing a sharply tense phase in their bilateral relationship leading to a huge mobilization and deployment of military forces along the border—are trying to occupy as much diplomatic and strategic space as possible in the South Asian region.
