Written by Abu Rushd
As a peace loving country, Bangladesh has always proudly upheld the core value of its foreign policy: ‘Friendship to all malice to none’. All the governments have scrupulously maintained this motto when dealing with every issue, and have endeavored to solve disputes through discussions and not by means of armed forces. But no country in the world, whatever constraints it may have, can sit idle and ignore the core security issues. And as the then Indian Army Chief General K. Sundarji once opined, ‘To be weak is not virtuous, being prepared is not being provocative’; Bangladesh is no exception to this… …
Located near the eastern approaches of the Malacca Straits, Bangladesh commands an important geo- strategic position in the region. Considering the multi-dimensional security issues including the ever rising threat of militancy, Bangladesh has justifiably adopted a policy of modernizing its armed forces. To accomplish this aim, government chalked out ‘The Forces Goal 2030’ where three services have been working hard to achieve their targets. Bangladesh Army for last few years has leaped forward by acquiring much needed tanks, 155 mm self-propelled howitzers, ATGM along with many other armament and equipment. This is an ongoing process where procurement process never halted, rather gaining momentum even with acute financial constraints. In our current issue we have tried to summarize the overall procurement planning and issues. In the coming months we will try to highlight the procurement of Navy and Air Force as well.
On the other hand, we have tried to cover different types of issues ranging from international affairs to regional military developments. Maj Gen G D Bakshi (Retd)- who is a veteran of Indian army and a prolific writer on strategic issues has graciously sent an article on Syrian conflict. In his article he has covered all the important aspects of this conflict which has already triggered hell in world peace.
We have presented a report on JF-17 Thunder of Pakistan which is attracting world market slowly but gradually.
India, as usual has remained the world’s largest weapons importer over a five-year period where she accounted for 14 per cent of total imports between 2011 and 2015 which were three times greater than those of China and Pakistan. A report on this is compiled by our staff correspondent Fakhrul Islam.
Dr. Hamid Hussain has analyzed the different types to drones used for military purposes in his article- ‘The Unblinking Eye’.
Other articles include- ‘Various dimensions of Ottoman Harem’, `Indo-Pak War 1965’ and China’s recently announce defense budget.
In this month Bangladesh Defence Journal is going to step on its ninth years of publication. We thank all our readers to be with us and we also thank our all advertisers, especially the renowned foreign companies whose supports strengthened our resolve to go forward.
May Almighty Allah bless us all.