Jul 21, 2011

Balancing Defence

            The government increased allocation for the armed forces to Tk 12,134 crore in the proposed budget for fiscal 2011-12 from Tk 10,918 crore in the current fiscal year. The proposed increase of Tk 1,216 crore [164.7 Million USD] was for modernising the country’s armed forces. “There is no alternative to augment the defence capacity of the country through modernisation of the armed forces,” Finance Minister AMA Muhith said.

            Bangladesh has gone in for purchase of 44 new tanks and three armoured recovery vehicles for the army as part of its plan to modernise the armed forces. Two helicopters are also being procured for logistic support for UN peacekeeping. The Main Battle Tanks (MBT-2000) and the ARVs are being bought from China, and helicopters from France through government-to-government deals. The cost of the tanks will be around Tk 1,201 crore, and the helicopters Tk 174 crore.

            The proposal for buying tanks from China on a government to government basis would expand cooperation in the defence field between Bangladesh and China. While there has been open bidding the Chinese companies which are government owned have the advantage of bidding at low costs which would have settled the deal. Even though other countries in the race including Russia and Ukraine could have possibly provided better options such as the T 90, the Bangladesh Army which actually may not have a major operational requirement for tanks would have possibly settled for lower quality Chinese tanks at cheaper costs.