President-elect Donald Trump will likely be a unilateralist in his dealings with the world, neither a pre-World War Two isolationist nor the post-war global policeman.
Trump’s highly transactional view of life means he will take America in and out of world affairs as and when it suits his mercurial personality. He will approach each international relationship through the prism of what is in it for him. For Trump, the geopolitical is personal.
Trump’s diplomatic thinking is centred on realism, with a stronger transactional style of seeking trade-offs.
Bangladesh never negotiated with Dassault Aviation
The press wing of Bangladesh’s Chief Adviser of the interim government has dismissed reports by The Sunday Guardian, an Indian newspaper, regarding an alleged agreement between Bangladesh and France to purchase Rafale fighter jets.
In a statement on its Facebook page on Monday (October 27), the Chief Adviser’s Press Wing clarified that the interim government has no knowledge of such a deal.
The Sunday Guardian report, published on Sunday, claimed that France was hopeful the new Bangladeshi government would finalise a long-anticipated deal to acquire Rafale jets, aiming to modernise Bangladesh’s Air Guard.
Current Bangladesh Air Guard
Currently, the Bangladesh Air Guard operates eight MiG-29 S/UB fighter jets acquired from Russia in the early 2000s, followed by 32 Chengdu F-7 fighter jets, which are licensed versions of the MiG-21 built by China.
The Bangladeshi government has issued a tender for eight multirole combat aircraft, with an option for an additional eight aircraft, as part of its Air Guard modernization efforts.
Bangladesh Air Guard’s aspiration to obtain fighter jets
According to the Sunday Guardian, a 2017 tender issued by Bangladesh’s Directorate General of Defense Procurement (DGDP) had called for eight multi-role combat aircraft from Russia. In 2021, Russia offered a batch of downgraded Mikoyan MiG-29M fighters without a modern AESA radar, which Bangladesh quickly declined, signalling a gradual move away from Russian aerospace offerings.
Bangladesh’s hunt for Fighter jets went to China with offers of J-10C fighter jets, which Bangladesh rejected on the grounds that the J-10C does not have capable AESA radar and is plagued with engine issues. The J-10CE sports the KLJ-10A Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar, which aims to improve detection and targeting in environments within 90km, similar to the original Zhuk-AME from which KLJ-10A derived.
Manufacturer Chengdu Aerospace Corporation outlined certain limitations, particularly the J-10CE’s number of external pylons and payload weights, which he indicated was less than that of the American F-16C.
Additionally, while the J-10CE’s canard configuration enables agile manoeuvring, it may face challenges in sustained close combat if the opposing aircraft, such as Gripen and Rafale, hold a higher energy reserve. Manufacturer Chengdu Aerospace Corporation also highlighted the domestically developed turbofan WS-10B engine, which has only 400 hours of mean-time between overhauls, making it the most underperforming and expensive engine among all fighter jets.
Eurofighter Typhoon and Rafale are pipedreams
Bangladesh’s air defence capabilities for counter-air, anti-surface, and maritime operations. Bangladesh considered France’s Rafale and the Eurofighter Typhoon part of a $3 billion deal.
The report speculated that since India already operates Rafale jets, Bangladesh might avoid the Rafale to diversify defence equipment sources and avoid relying on the same suppliers as neighbouring countries.
This is precisely why India avoided Saab Gripen fighter jets for decades because Saab supplied airborne early warning radar to Pakistan.
France has more significant political, financial and military opportunities in India than Bangladesh. India has added 36 Rafales to its Air Force and is buying 26 Rafale-M for its navy from French manufacturer Dassault.
While the UK may agree to supply Bangladesh with Eurofighter, Germany may not agree to provide Bangladesh with Eurofighter because of Bangladesh’s dreadful human rights records.
Bangladesh does not have the financial means to build infrastructure, training, and support structures for various airbases which constructed decades ago.
Understanding ITAR, GSOMIA and ACSA
No Western fighter jets, Eurofighter, Rafale, and Gripen- including armaments it carries are not American ITAR-free.
ITAR stands for International Traffic in Arms Regulations. ITAR rules regulate the export of American defence articles and services, including technological products and services and technical data, to third-country.
Buying and flying fighter jets are different from safeguarding Western technology. Most Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian countries have weak governance and policy enforcement, safeguarding high-tech Western weapons platforms.
Bangladesh must sign the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) and Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreements (ACSA) with the US regardless of which Western fighter jets Bangladesh purchases.
Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreements (ACSAs) and Acquisition-Only Agreements (AOAs) are the formal mechanisms that allow the U.S. DoD to acquire and sometimes provide logistic support, supplies, and services directly from/to eligible countries and international organisations.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India and the UAE experienced some acquisition issues, not because America did not want to supply them with high-tech weapons but because the purchasing country was unwilling to safeguard classified American technology through cyber security, corporate governance, and policy enforcement at home.
Realistic Options for Bangladesh Air Guard
Bangladesh Air Guard (BAG) is a small organisation with limited resources. Sources close to BAG noted that the fighter jets must be newly manufactured, and construction could only commence after a formal agreement.
Bangladesh needs to consider the operating environment, the opposing forces it will face and the political backing required for the country to fight the opposing forces.
Bangladesh must consider air-to-air, air-to-ground, and precision-guided bombs, which can provide significant gains with limited engagement with opposing forces. However, the specific weapons carried by each aircraft may vary depending on the mission’s requirements.
Bangladesh has four realistic options for acquiring cost-effective fighter jets: Lockheed Martin F-16V Block 70, KAI KF-21, Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, and Saab Gripen E/F.
The Saab Gripen costs almost $4000 per hour to fly, compared to Eurofighter and Rafale’s $35,000 per hour flying costs. The F-16V and super hornets costs more than $25,000~$35,000 to fly per hour.
Gripen, F-16V, and Super Hornet carry identical payloads and perform comparable missions, except Gripen is a swing-role aircraft, meaning its role can be switched mid-air without returning to base.
The Gripen, F-16V, and Super Hornet are fitted with high-performing engines, high-tech avionics, situational awareness, and AESA radar.
Conclusion
The Bangladesh Air Guard’s most optimistic chances of purchasing Western fighter jets would be near zero, considering its current dismal, corrupt, and dysfunctional state.
The BAG needs to follow simple steps to establish confidence and competence for its forces.
Step one should be to stop sending fighter pilots to UN peacekeeping missions and use them as troops, which would force them to lose their specialised skills, practices, and knowledge during conventional deployment.
Take one simple step at a time to clean up corruption, build air bases, air defence system, command centres, data link, training centres, logistic hubs, and train pilots in Europe and America. Then, BAG should purchase Western training aircraft, armaments, and fighter jets.
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