Everything about The Bangladesh Air Force totally explained
The
Bangladesh Air Force (বাংলােদশ িবমান বািহনী
Bangladesh Biman Bahini in
Bangla), is the tactical and strategic air branch of the
Bangladesh Armed Forces. Bangladesh Air Force consists of more than 19,000 personnel including 2,100 officers of whom around 450 are pilots.
History
Bangladesh Air Force was formed at
Dimapur,
Nagaland (
India) on
28 September 1971. At that time, the embryo of Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) was formed as '
Kilo Flight' to assist the
Mukti Bahini (Freedom Fighters). Initially, 'Kilo Flight' consisted of three aircraft (given by
Indian Air Force), 09 officers and 47 airmen.
Squadron Leader Sultan Mahmud (retired as
Air Vice Marshal and Chief of the Air Staff of BAF) was appointed as the commander of the 'Kilo Flight'. After having some basic training on air to ground weapon delivery, 'Kilo Flight' successfully bombed Fuel storage in
Chittagong and
Narayangonj area and thus the journey of BAF had commenced. During the last phase of the
Bangladesh Liberation War the newly formed Bangladesh Air Force carried out 12 successful attack missions over Pakistani targets.
After liberation in 1971, the Bangladesh Air Force was initially equipped with
captured Pakistan Air Force equipment, mostly
F-86 Sabres, and even these were few. Other equipment was donated from
India and included:
C-47 Dakotas,
DHC-3s and
Alouette Helicopters. Despite the lack of aircraft, the
Pakistan Air Force prior to 1971 had a large number of
Bengali pilots, many of them distinguishing themselves, this provided the Bangladesh Air Force with a good number of trained pilots and technicians.
Installations
BAF Headquarters is located in Dhaka. There are many bases set up all over the country.
Interestingly, BAF Bases Bashar (Dhaka), Zahurul Haque (Chittagong) and Matiur (Jessore) are named after National and Air Force heroes. Other major bases are BAF Base Pahar Kanchanpur (Tangail), BAF Base Shamshernagar (Sylhet). Recently a new base is set up at Bogra.
Officer Ranks
(in decreasing order)
Aircraft
! ignore="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Aircraft
! ignore="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Origin
! ignore="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Type
! ignore="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Versions
! ignore="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|In service
! ignore="text-align: left; background: #aacccc;"|Notes
|
-
|
Aero L-39 Albatros
|
| trainer, light attack
| L-39ZA
| 8
|
|
-
|
Antonov An-32 Cline
| /
| transport
|
| 4
|
|
-
|
Bell 206L LongRanger
|
| utility helicopter
| 206L
| 6
|
|
-
|
Bell 212 Twin Huey
|
| utility helicopter
|
| 13
|
|
-
|
Cessna T-37 Tweet
|
| trainer
| T-37B
| 15
|
|
-
|
Chengdu F-7 Airguard
|
| fighter
|
F-7MB
F-7BG
FT-7
F-7MG
| 150+
(all versions)
| multi-role,interceptor, air defence.
|
-
|
Chengdu J-10
|
| 4.5 generation advanced multi-role fighter
|
| N/A
Will be procured after 2012
| multi-role, attack.
|
-
|
Fouga CM.170 Magister
|
| trainer
| CM.170
| 8
| withdrawn from use?
|
-
|
Lockheed C-130 Hercules
|
| tactical transport
| C-130B
| 5
|
-
|
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrum
|
| fighter
|
MiG-29
MiG-29UB
| 8
(all versions)
| multirole air superiority fighter
|
-
|
Mil Mi-8 Hip
|
| utility helicopter
|Mi-8
Mi-8MTV
Mi-17
| 57 (all versions)
1
2
43
|
|
-
|
Nanchang A-5 Fantan
|
| attack
| A-5C
| ~40-50
| bomber/ground attack
|
|
Nanchang PT-6
|
| trainer
| PT-6
| 46
|
-
|}
Markings
The basic dimensions of the Bangladesh Air Force badge, motto, ensign, and roundel are similar to that of many Commonwealth nations. Their basic colors are blue, green and red.
List of Air Force Chief
With effect from
23 May 2007, The rank of Air Chief was elevated from Air Vice Marshal to Air Marshal.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Bangladesh Air Force'.
|
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