UK to sell five naval vessels to Bangladesh Navy

Bangladesh Navy will buy five warships from the United Kingdom in an effort to modernize its naval fleet, Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen revealed.

As informed, two of the vessels will be built in Bangladesh and the rest of the ships are to be imported from the UK. The purchase of the vessels was discussed during the bilateral meeting between Momen and UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson during the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow.

The projects are a part of the Forces Goal 2030 program currently underway in Bangladesh.

“We have decided in principle to buy five naval ships. The objectives of this purchase is to monitor and protect our huge sea frontiers from others who enter our territories for fishing or other purposes,” Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said.

This military modernization program of the Bangladesh Armed Forces began in 2009 and was revised in 2017. It was designed to enhance the capabilities of the three services of the Bangladesh armed forces: the army, the navy and the air force. The Bangladesh government has spent an undisclosed amount of money to upgrade the navy’s fleet with different types of naval vessels, including frigates, cutters, corvettes and offshore patrol vessels (OPV).

In January last year, Chittagong Dry Dock Limited (CDDL) received a contract to build six new OPVs for the Bangladesh Navy.

OPVs will conduct surveillance operations, perform constabulary duties like policing, patrolling and anti-smuggling in the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), carry out fishery protection operations in coastal areas and protect offshore resources in EEZ.

This month, the UK also revealed plans to sell two retired Royal Fleet auxiliary ships to Egypt.