The Bangladesh Army has begun talks with the Turkish government agencies for procuring state-of-the-art Turkish air defence systems according to Turkish sources.
Turkish defence websites as well as social media pages have reported the Bangladesh Army is undertaking the talks to purchase Hisar-O short/medium-range air defence systems.
Defseca.com reported earlier about Bangladesh Army officials inspecting sub-contractors of Hisar-O air defence systems.
The Hisar-O is a vertical launched medium-range SAM system mounted on a Mercedes-Benz Zetros chassis. It has a minimum range of 3 km and a maximum range of 25 km. The minimum altitude for the weapon system is 50 m and maximum altitude is reportedly 15 km.
Turkey is also developing the Hisar-U long range air defence system which has a minimum range of 30 km and a maximum range of 100 km. Its minimum operating altitude is 100 m and maximum is 20 km.
The Bangladesh Army is procuring the Hisar air defence system through government to government negotiations.
The Hisar air defence system will increase Bangladesh’s protection particularly in KPI’s such as the Roopur Nuclear Power Plant, several large bridges, the national parliament complex, secretariat and other facilities of national importance. The weapons system is fully mobile enabling it to be relocated by land, air or sea transportation methods.
The Bangladesh Navy has also shortlisted the Turkish ATCAMA anti-ship missile system alongside MBDA Systems Otomat Mk II and SSM-700K from South Korea to arm its new generation warships. Roketsan’s strong relations with the Bangladesh Armed Forces is illustrated by its contract for TR-300 GMLRS and Teber precision guided munitions for the Bangladesh Air Force.
Bangladesh and Turkey signed a strategic agreement dating back to the 1980s however defence industry cooperation kicked in very recently in the past ten years. Bangladesh and Turkey are two of the largest and successful Muslim nations in the world economies.
