Facts and figures

The ‘Know Your Region’ series is designed to support unit and individual professional military education on the Indo-Pacific region. It’s important for all serving members of our military to have a foundational knowledge of the countries and issues in the Indo-Pacific.

On this page:

  • A Short History
  • Military Strength
  • Security Challenges
  • Military Partnerships
    • China
    • India
    • Pakistan
    • Australia (and other western countries)

A Short History

The Bangladesh Armed Forces was founded during the 1971 Liberation War, when the Mukti Bahini (freedom fighters) fought West Pakistan’s military. The Bangladesh Air Force was formally established on 28 September 1971 on the back of ‘Operation Kilo Flight’: a small contingent of Bengali pilots (many former officers of the Pakistan Air Force) who carried out hit-and-run missions. The Navy included a handful of naval commandos and a small number of converted civilian vessels to disrupt Pakistani supply lines. On 21 November 1971, the three services (Army, Navy, Air Force) coordinated their first joint operation, marking what is now celebrated annually as Armed Forces Day. By the end of the war, on 16 December 1971, an estimated 93,000 West Pakistani soldiers had surrendered and Bangladesh became an independent country.

In 1975, Bangladesh’s first elected leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated, along with members of his family, by army officers. This marked the first direct military intervention in its civilian administration. In 1982, Lt. Gen. Hussain Muhammad Ershad (then Army Chief) staged a coup, ousting President Abdus Sattar and ruling as a military strongman until 1990. During Ershad’s rule, the size and footprint of the military expanded. According to historical data the active personnel numbered around 103,000 in 1990.

Following Ershad’s resignation, Bangladesh returned to parliamentary democracy. Over time the military sought to professionalise and reposition itself, focusing less on direct governance and more on its core defence and security roles. One such role where the Bangladesh military has excelled is international peacekeeping. It has become one of the world’s largest contributors to UN operations, gaining both operational experience and international legitimacy. 

In 2009, Bangladesh launched a comprehensive modernisation plan, Forces Goal 2030, with an aim to transform its armed forces into a 21st-century, technologically capable military. Revised in 2017, the plan included: raising new Army divisions, modernising the Navy and Air Force, building local defence industry, and investing in new formations such as an air defence corps. 

Under the program, Bangladesh has inducted new fighter jets (e.g., F-7BG), radar systems, self-propelled artillery, missiles, light tanks, and more. The country is also building a domestic arms industry via Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory (BMTF) and Bangladesh Ordnance Factory (BOF) to produce small arms, light rockets, and utility vehicles.

Military Strength

Bangladesh is ranked 35th out of 145 countries (2025) according to the Global Firepower Index, up five positions in only two years. It has roughly 160,000 active military personnel with approximately 65,000 reserves. Paramilitary forces like the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) add further capacity. The Army is the largest branch with about ten infantry divisions, independent brigades, armoured and artillery regiments, and a growing Para-Commando Brigade. The Navy operates both coastal-defence and limited blue-water capabilities. Its fleet includes frigates, corvettes, patrol vessels, and submarines. The Air Force is modest with a fast-growing fleet of fighters, transports, and helicopters mostly originating from China and Russia.

Security Challenges

Bangladesh faces a range of internal and external security challenges. The country shares a long, porous border with India and a 270 km stretch with Myanmar. Border management, illegal migration, smuggling, and occasional military tensions pose persistent security threats. There is also a risk of internal insurgencies in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) which has seen indigenous populations revolt against Bengali settlers.

Rohingya Crisis

In August 2017, Myanmar’s military launched ‘clearance operations’ after Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) militants attacked military border posts, killing about 30 soldiers. Approximately 25,000 Rohingya were killed in what the United Nations has described as ethnic cleansing and genocide. Nearly 750,000 Rohingya fled into Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district within months, adding to around 250,000 earlier refugees.

Bangladesh initially adopted an open-border, humanitarian approach, but the scale and duration of the crisis soon transformed it into a strategic security concern with no foreseeable end. Myanmar has deployed troops near the border, requiring Bangladesh to maintain a constant state of vigilance. The crisis has created the possibility of escalation or miscalculation between the two militaries. Tensions have also risen due to overcrowding, poor conditions, and a lack of solutions. The territory has become a hotbed for organised crime, violence, and militant extremism. Cox’s bazar was already one of the poorest districts in Bangladesh. The influx of almost 1.5 million people has driven up commodity prices, depressed local wages, and strained local health and educational services.

China is Myanmar's key ally and has so far exerted limited pressure on its leaders to safely repatriate its citizens. Likewise, India has also remained largely silent on the subject although they have provided humanitarian assistance and security support as have the US and other western countries.

Disaster Response

Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to natural disasters and the military is often mobilised for humanitarian response and disaster relief. Rising sea levels, climate-induced migration, coastal erosion, and resource stresses could increasingly become security challenges that require frequent military involvement in non-combat roles.

Security Partnerships

Bangladesh maintains a diverse range of partnerships and alliances. It does not belong to any formal military bloc but instead leverages bilateral and multilateral relationships.

China

China has been Bangladesh’s largest arms supplier. Under Forces Goal 2030, a significant portion of new military hardware and equipment was purchased from China including submarines, frigates, missile systems, tanks, radars, and aircraft. China has also transferred technology to Bangladesh’s defence industry (BOF, BMTF), supporting local production of small arms, rocket systems, and vehicles. In recent years, however, Bangladesh has sought to diversify its military partners to reduce over-reliance on any one country.

India

Under Sheikh Hasina, the Bangladesh-India military relationship reached unprecedented levels of cooperation from 2009 to 2024. Bangladesh cracked down on anti-India groups, ULFA (United Liberation Front of Asom) militants were handed over to India, cross-border militant sanctuaries were eliminated and intelligence-sharing between DGFI (Bangladesh) and RAW/IB (India) increased dramatically. This earned Bangladesh strong security goodwill from India. While the Bangladesh government saw the relationship as crucial for security, many Bangladeshis believed that India exercised excessive influence over Dhaka’s political decisions and the relationship was unequal, favouring India.

When the Awami League government collapsed in mid-2024, the Bangladesh–India military relationship became more transactional and less strategic. While the armed forces retained communication channels with India, they have avoided the perception of alignment with any external power. Despite turbulence, the relationship remains too strategically important for either country to abandon.

Pakistan

Following the 1971 war, relations between Bangladesh and Pakistan were civil at best, with both sides distrustful of the other. For the next 30 years any military interaction was limited and largely ceremonial. Through the 2000s, the two countries maintained formal lines of military-to-military contact (attaches, delegations, limited training exchanges) but defence cooperation did not become a defining feature of either country’s strategic posture. Pakistani leaders sometimes sought warmer ties, but political constraints in Bangladesh (public memory and domestic politics) limited progress.

After Bangladesh’s 2024 regime transition, Dhaka has shown a willingness to explore previously constrained channels with Islamabad. 2024-2025 has seen a revival of military contacts such as navy delegations meeting, talks about training and exchanges, participation in joint exercises such as AMAN, and plans for aviation/pilot training exchanges that would be the first formal aviation training cooperation since 1971.

Türkiye 

In Bangladesh's efforts to diversify its military supply base, Türkiye has emerged as a key partner for Bangladesh. While the more significant defence purchases remain with more historical partners, approximately 40% of current Bangladesh defence imports originate in Türkiye.

Australia 

Although Bangladesh and Australia are not formal military allies, they do maintain a modest defence and security partnership, shaped primarily by shared interests in maritime security, peacekeeping, and counter-transnational crime. Australia maintains a resident Defence Adviser at its High Commission in Dhaka to facilitate military dialogue, joint activities, training coordination, and information exchange.

Maritime cooperation is the core of the Bangladesh-Australia military relationship. Bangladesh sits on the Bay of Bengal’s northern rim – a key gateway for energy and shipping. Australia shares information and has offered support to improve the Bangladesh Navy’s capability to monitor exclusive economic zone (EE), track vessels of interest, and detect illegal fishing and trafficking networks. Given China’s increasing presence in the Indian Ocean, Australia will likely seek to strengthen ties in the future.

Diversification

As part of its modernisation efforts, Bangladesh has expanded its procurement source beyond China and Russia. Reports note that Dhaka has bought or is exploring systems from Türkiye, India, and European countries including the UK and Germany. This diversification aligns with the goal of increasing autonomy in defence procurement and reducing geopolitical risk.

For more information of Bangladesh's military, see the resources below:

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