Chief of Air Staff of Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) Air Chief Marshal Shaikh Abdul Hannan said on Tuesday, Bangladesh will manufacture fighter planes.
He said BAF introduced new RADARS during its five-day annual exercise-2024.
Speaking at a press conference after visiting the Air Force exercise at Bangabandhu Kurmitola Air Base of Bangladesh Air Force in Dhaka Cantonment he said, "This is the largest exercise of Bangladesh Air Force. The exercise is being conducted across Bangladesh from the units of Sylhet, Tangail, Lalmonirhat, Shamshernagar, Rasulpur and Sudharam from March 3 to 7."
He said, "We have a number of objectives to achieve from this exercise. This year we introduced new RADARS. During the exercise we will evaluate the efficacy of new RADARS and how our officers cope with the new equipment."
He said, "During the exercise we will teach our officers how to combat with enemy and keep our country safe. We use most of our infrastructure, arms and equipment. The exercise will be a real battle in which our officers will use their war tactics against enemy."
"Army, Navy, BGB, Police, Ansar and Civil Defense took part in the exercise. This exercise helps us to evaluate our competency and give guidelines for the future," he said.
He said, "We involved new officers in the exercise to develop their professionalism."
A press release issue by the Bangladesh Air Force said that, in the exercise Air Force pilots used air combat tactics and carried out all types of missions including attacks by aircraft, interception, surveillance of enemy-held areas from the air, supply of logistics, transfer of troops and ammunition, search and rescue operations.
It said, all types of combat and transport aircraft, helicopters and RADARS, missile units and unmanned aerial units of the Air Force were used in the exercise.
It said, Apart from different aircraft and helicopters, all BAF personnel along with Air Defence Radar, Surface to Air Missile (SAM) and Unmanned Aerial System Unit (UASU) units are also taking part in this exercise. During this exercise, identification of the enemy aircraft through various radar squadrons is being carried out and practiced the mechanism to neutralize the attack with the help of fighter and missile unit.
Notable exercises were Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) mission by BAF helicopter and BAF Commando team, Emergency logistics supply by BAF transport aircraft, identification of explosive and neutralization by BAF Bomb Disposal Unit and Scramble by Air Defense Alert (ADA) aircraft to neutralize enemy intruders, surveillance by drone and time sensitive target etc.
The main objective of Annual Exercise-2024 is to assess present BAF capability and also to identify different weaknesses to improve further through evaluation of tactics and acquisition of assets. Overall, this exercise is surely going to expand BAF capability to safeguard our national airspace in coming days.
