Bangladesh building its own missile arsenal

Bangladesh is all set to build its own missile arsenal. The government in Dhaka is in the process of clinching a deal with an integrated European company MBDA for buying OTOMAT MK-II surface-to-air missiles and five launch systems. These missiles can carry a payload of 210 kg and can hit targets 180 km away.In addition, highly-placed intelligence sources say, the Bangladesh Air Force is negotiating with Turkish arms dealer ASELSAN to buy Shorad (Short Range Air Defense) system and 3D air defense radars during the current financial year.Bangladesh has already set up a missile launch pad near the Chittagong Port with assistance from China. Bangladesh's missile programme is a recent one. Its maiden missile test was conducted on May 12, with active participation of a group of Chinese experts. It successfully test-fired land attack anti-ship cruise missile C-802A with a strike range of 120 km from the frigate BNS Osman near Kutubdia Island in the Bay of Bengal.

The frigate, commissioned by the Bangladesh Navy in 1989, is a 1500-ton Chinese built Jianghu class warship, and the C-802A missile, according to experts, is a modified version of Chinese Ying Ji-802 with weight reduced from 815-715 kg to increase strike range from 42-120 km.

The radar-equipped missile can carry a 165-kg warhead. Since its guidance equipment has strong anti-jamming capability, the ships it targets have a very low success rate in intercepting the missile. The hit probability of the Ying Ji-802 is rated as 98%. It can be launched from aircraft, ships, submarines and even land-based vehicles, and is considered to be at par with the US Harpoon, the best anti-ship missiles of the present day missile system. Bangladesh building missile arsenal-India-The Times of India