Throughout its existence, the Bangladesh Army has had to contend with severe shortages of weapons, communications equipment, spare parts, and transport vehicles. One 1982 report maintained that target practice--a basic military skill--was restricted because of ammunition shortages. Under these conditions, it is doubtful the army could fight a conventional war for more than a few days without massive assistance from a foreign power.
The government took initiatives in 2003 to buy tanks for the army, but that initiative did not see the light of day due to budgetary limitations. The government was supposed to buy seven tanks in 2010 and seven more in 2011. But only a Chinese company took part in the tender, the government cancelled it, and re-invited tender in which four companies from China, Russia, Ukraine, and Pakistan participated
Bangladesh Army acquiring Al-Khalid Tank
The term
Al-Khalid tank (
Urdu:
الخالد ٹینک—
Al-Xālid Ṫaiŋk, pronounced
[əl-ˈxɑːlɪd̪ ʈæːŋk]lit. The Immortal Tank) and
MBT-2000 refers to the jointly developed variants of a modern
main battle tank by
Pakistan and
China during the 1990s
About 300 Al-Khalid tanks were in service with the
Pakistan Army as of 2009. The
Bangladesh Army ordered 44 MBT-2000s in 2011. The tank is also used by the
Royal Moroccan Army
A report of the Army, analyzing the allocations and expenditures of the past four fiscal years was placed before the parliamentary standing committee on defence ministry on 28 May 2009. The report identifies insufficient funding as the “key problem” to starting replacement of outdated weaponry. “Most of Bangladesh weapons are from the 1960s and ’70s, which belittles our overall military prowess,” it said. According to the report, 90.3 percent small arms and 89 percent field artillery guns used by the army were bought during 1960s-80s while all the tanks are from that period
The Bangladesh Army has begun inducting fourth-generation Pakistani made MTB-2000 (Al Khalid tanks) Bangladesh has placed an order for 44 MBT2000 tanks. The deal is worth $162 million. In January 2014 it was erroneously reported that the Bangladesh army was in the process of procuring "2,000 Main Battle Tanks" from Pakistan & China at the cost of 162 million dollars. The MBT2000 is the Al Khalid tanks, in the service of the Pakistan army since 2001. This was the first time Bangladesh has obtained newly assembled Main Battle Tanks (MBTs). The existence of the main battle tank Type 90-II MBT (also called MBT 2000) was first revealed in late 1991. Pakistan's Al Khalid (MBT2000) tank performance close to the India T90S
Al-Khalid tank - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
