The Bangladesh Navy is purchasing Turkish-made weapons systems for integration with its newly built warships. To this end the Navy confirmed to Defseca.com that it is to obtain remote controlled stabilised naval gun systems from Aselsan for the first time.
The Turkish defence systems manufacturer will supply and integrate SMASH 30mm Mk44 Bushmaster-II cannons and STAMP-2 remote controlled 12.7mm machine guns on its newly built patrol craft that are currently being built in Bangladesh by the Khulna Shipyard.
The SMASH 30mm cannons will be incorporated aboard 5 newly built patrol craft of Padma class, including on BNS Shaheed Daulat, BNS Shaheed Farid, BNS Shaheed Akhteruddin and BNS Bishkhali.
These naval gun systems are fitted with built-in electro-optic sensor system for autonomous operation, day and night operation, stabilised turret, automatic target tracking on the move and ballistic computation.
These patrol craft are an updated variant of the Padma class patrol craft that were also delivered by the Khulna Shipyard to the Bangladesh Navy earlier.
The second generation of Padma class patrol craft designs were also supplied by China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Co., Ltd. in a contract signed with the Khulna Shipyard and the Bangladesh Navy in May 2019.
The 51.6 m long patrol craft have a maximum speed of 21 knots and are armed with a 30mm SMASH cannon and two 12.7mm CIS 50 machine guns, which will be fitted on the STAMP-2 RCWS.
The patrol craft will be powered by two MTU diesels from Germany and use two CAT generators from the United Kingdom. The Bangladesh Navy is scheduled to receive the first two units of the patrol craft by 31 December 2021.
