Bangladesh’s transfer to determine a home unmanned aerial automobile (UAV) manufacturing functionality by a defence partnership with China has launched a brand new strategic variable into South Asia’s safety panorama.
The settlement, formally cleared by Bangladesh’s interim administration and backed by state funding, marks a shift from arms procurement to defence-industrial collaboration — inserting Chinese language expertise, and long-term operational presence inside shut proximity of India’s japanese and northeastern frontiers.
Whereas Dhaka has positioned the initiative as a step towards self-reliance, humanitarian assist, and drive modernisation, the size, location, and Chinese language involvement within the challenge have prompted cautious scrutiny in New Delhi.
Indian strategists more and more interpret the event as a part of a broader regional sample wherein Beijing embeds itself inside neighbouring international locations’ navy ecosystems by infrastructure, expertise switch, and manufacturing amenities reasonably than one-off gear gross sales.
Contained in the Bangladesh-China UAV manufacturing settlement
The defence settlement was signed on January 27, between the Bangladesh Air Drive (BAF) and China Electronics Expertise Group Company Worldwide (CETC), a state-owned Chinese language defence electronics agency.
The signing occurred on the Bangladesh Air Drive headquarters in Dhaka Cantonment, underscoring the institutional nature of the collaboration.
In an official assertion, Bangladesh’s defence ministry confirmed the scope of the partnership, stating, “Below the settlement, BAF and CETC will collectively arrange a facility to provide and assemble state-of-the-art UAVs.”
The ministry added that the association contains expertise switch from the Chinese language aspect in addition to structured capacity-building measures aimed toward enabling Bangladesh to independently manufacture UAVs over the long run.
The settlement outlines a phased strategy. Within the preliminary stage, the Bangladesh Air Drive will purchase the potential to fabricate and assemble a number of UAV classes, together with Medium Altitude Low Endurance (MALE) drones and Vertical Take-off and Touchdown (VTOL) platforms.
These programs are anticipated to be deployed for each civilian and navy functions. In accordance with the official launch, the UAVs produced beneath the partnership will assist humanitarian help and catastrophe administration operations, along with their use in navy missions.
The inclusion of civilian purposes has been emphasised by Bangladeshi authorities as a key justification for the challenge, significantly in a rustic liable to pure disasters.
The signing ceremony was attended by a number of senior figures from each international locations.
Current on the event have been Air Chief Marshal Hasan Mahmood Khan, Chinese language Ambassador to Bangladesh Yao Wen, Principal Employees Officer of Bangladesh’s Armed Forces Division Lieutenant Normal SM Kamrul Hasan, and senior representatives from the Chief Adviser’s workplace, together with Secretary Mohammad Saifullah Panna.
The UAV manufacturing facility is reportedly deliberate on the proposed Bogra airbase, a web site that Bangladeshi officers have described as strategically positioned.
The challenge entails not solely the institution of a manufacturing and meeting line but additionally the event of infrastructure related to the airbase itself.
Formally titled “Institution of Manufacturing Plant and Switch of Expertise (ToT) for Unmanned Aerial Autos (UAVs),” the challenge has been authorised by Bangladesh’s finance ministry following clearance from Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, who presently oversees the defence portfolio.
The Bangladesh Air Drive has been designated because the implementing authority.
How a lot the deal will value
The entire authorised value of the challenge stands at Tk 608.07 crore, equal to roughly $55 million, following negotiations with the Chinese language accomplice that lowered the unique proposal.
The monetary construction of the challenge has been laid out throughout 4 fiscal years, reflecting a phased implementation mannequin reasonably than a single massive expenditure.
Of the overall quantity, Tk570.60 crore has been earmarked particularly for the importation and set up of producing infrastructure and related expertise.
The remaining funds cowl home expenditures corresponding to value-added tax, letter-of-credit costs, and different native prices.
Annual spending begins with an allocation of Tk106 crore within the present fiscal yr.
Notably, the challenge shall be funded totally from the Bangladesh Air Drive’s current price range, with no extra allocations deliberate from the nationwide exchequer.
This funding construction has been introduced by Dhaka as proof that the initiative aligns with current defence planning reasonably than representing a rare or reactive expenditure.
CETC Worldwide, Bangladesh’s Chinese language accomplice, is a subsidiary of China Electronics Expertise Group Company, a state-owned conglomerate with a large portfolio spanning radars, UAVs, telecommunications gear, digital warfare programs, safe networks, and navy software program.
The corporate’s programs are reportedly in service throughout greater than 110 international locations, protecting Asia and Africa. CETC additionally operates as an funding and asset administration agency alongside its defence electronics position.
Regardless of its international footprint, CETC is a sanctioned entity in america, a element that has not gone unnoticed by regional observers monitoring the implications of its rising presence in South Asia.
What drones might be produced and their operational position
Whereas Bangladeshi authorities haven’t formally disclosed the precise UAV mannequin to be manufactured, a number of experiences recommend that the platform might be the XY-I, a medium-sized MALE drone developed by CETC and unveiled at Airshow China 2022.
A scale mannequin of the plane was displayed on the occasion, drawing consideration for its design similarities to Turkey’s Bayraktar TB2.
In accordance with CETC, the XY-I is designed for each civilian and navy missions and presents full autonomous flight capabilities together with all-day endurance.
The drone is meant to assist a large spectrum of duties, together with reconnaissance, surveillance, border patrol, digital warfare, communications assist, and assault roles.
The plane encompasses a blended wing physique configuration and an inverted V-tail, traits that mirror these seen on the Bayraktar TB2. Nevertheless, it differs in engine structure, using a two-blade pusher propeller reasonably than the configuration used on the Turkish platform.
CETC has acknowledged that the XY-I helps a broad vary of quickly interchangeable payloads. These embody electro-optical sensors, reconnaissance modules, communications programs, and weapons corresponding to bombs and air-to-surface missiles.
Detailed technical specs, together with vary, endurance, and payload capability, haven’t been publicly disclosed by the corporate.
Past the airframe itself, analysts be aware that CETC’s experience lies in superior defence electronics reasonably than primary manufacturing alone. The corporate’s strengths in sensor fusion, safe information hyperlinks, and digital warfare architectures may allow Bangladesh to combine UAVs right into a wider network-centric operational atmosphere.
This could enable drones to perform as a part of an interconnected battlespace reasonably than as remoted reconnaissance platforms.
China has been Bangladesh’s principal provider of defence gear for many years, and the UAV manufacturing settlement builds upon an already in depth navy relationship.
Bangladesh’s armed forces presently function a spread of Chinese language-origin platforms, together with submarines, floor combatants, radar programs, and fight plane.
In accordance with a number of experiences, the Bangladesh Air Drive can be within the remaining levels of negotiating a $2.2 billion deal to amass 20 Chengdu J-10C “Vigorous Dragon” multi-role fighter jets.
The proposed acquisition is meant to
change ageing F-7 and MiG-29 plane and considerably improve the BAF’s air fight capabilities.
Between 2019 and 2023, Bangladesh accounted for about 11 per cent of world Chinese language arms exports.
The UAV manufacturing challenge represents a qualitative shift on this relationship by embedding manufacturing and expertise switch inside Bangladesh reasonably than relying solely on imports.
From Beijing’s perspective, situating a drone manufacturing facility in Bangladesh presents a number of benefits. The situation gives logistical depth and the potential to service South Asian, Southeast Asian, and even West Asian markets from a geographically central hub.
The challenge additionally enhances
China’s broader Belt and Highway-linked investments in Bangladeshi ports, transport corridors, and infrastructure, reinforcing dual-use synergies that blur the excellence between civilian improvement and latent navy utility.
By transitioning from arms gross sales to defence-industrial integration, China will increase the long-term interdependence between its programs and Bangladesh’s navy planning.
Why India is worried
New Delhi views the event by the prism of its broader safety atmosphere, significantly given Bangladesh’s proximity to India’s northeastern hall and the 2 international locations’ shared 4,096-kilometre land border.
Indian officers and analysts have expressed concern that long-endurance MALE UAVs working from Bangladeshi territory may improve surveillance, reconnaissance, and digital intelligence-gathering capabilities in areas near Indian airspace.
The potential for armed UAVs to function close to delicate border areas has added to those apprehensions.
A number of observers have additionally warned that the institution of a Chinese language-backed drone facility may deepen Beijing’s entry and affect inside the Bangladeshi armed forces.
Issues have been raised that the expertise concerned may enable monitoring of areas alongside the Indian border, with intelligence doubtlessly serving broader Chinese language navy targets.
Following the change of energy in Dhaka in 2024, interim chief Muhammad Yunus has accelerated defence and financial engagement with China. This recalibration culminated in multi-billion-dollar agreements signed
throughout his March 2025 go to to Beijing.
Indian policymakers more and more body such developments inside the context of Beijing’s incremental encirclement technique, sometimes called the “String of Pearls,” which describes
China’s increasing affect throughout South Asia and the Indian Ocean area.
On this framework, the Bay of Bengal is now not seen as a peripheral theatre however as a core node in China’s evolving Indo-Pacific defence diplomacy.
With inputs from companies
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