Extremely peeved by China’s and Russia’s support to Myanmar’sstand on the Rohingya refugee issue, Bangladesh’s Awami League-led government has decided to get rid of the Bangladesh Air Force’s (BAF) existing fleet of China-/Russia-origin combat aircraft and go for an initial 16 Eurofighter EF-2000 medium multi-role combat aircraft (M-MRCA) from Italy’s Leonardo Group. The BAF presently operates Chengdu F-7MBs and MiG-29B-12s that were procured two decades ago.

The BAF zeroed in on the EF-2000 back in 2015, following the appointment of the then Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal (ACM) Abu Esrar, who had conducted an evaluation of the EF-2000 during the 2016 Farnborough International Air show. Esrar’s successor, ACM Masihuzzaman Serniabat, was equally enthusiastic, but a detailed evaluation of the M-MRCA with Leonardo’s assistance had to be aborted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Now Serniabat’s successor, ACM Shaikh Abdul Hannan, has been tasked with the completion of the EF-2000 procurement process.

Bangladesh’s Directorate General Defence Purchase (DGDP) had floated a global tender in 2017 for the procurement of eight M-MRCAs, plus options for an additional four, under the Forces Goal 2030 modernisation programme. Later increased to 16 M-MRCAs, the tender had specified the requirement for a new-build, twin-engined M-MRCA, with each of its turbofans producing at least 12,125 pounds of dry thrust and more than 17,635 pounds with afterburner. The minimum weapons payload was to be five tonnes carried on at least eight weapons hard-points. Additional specifications had called for the M-MRCAs to be equipped with active electronically scanned array multi-mode radar (AESA-MMR) with an air-to-air range of 93 miles and an air-to-surface range of 31 miles, an infra-red search and track (IRST) system, and an integrated electronic warfare (EW) suite.