Bangladesh Air Force

Ensign of the Bangladesh Air Force
Active	1971 – present
Country	Bangladesh
Size	11,000 personnel 200+ aircraft
Air Headquarter	Dhaka, Bangladesh
Nickname	BAF
Motto	বাংলার আকাশ রাখিব মুক্ত The Sky of Bangladesh Will Be Kept Secured
Website	www.baf.mil.bd
Commanders
Air Force Chief of Staff	Air Marshal Shah Mohammad Ziaur Rahman
Insignia
Crest
Roundel
Aircraft flown
Attack	Nanchang A-5, Aero L-39, Mil Mi-171
Bomber	Nanchang A-5, Antonov An-32 (converted)
Fighter	Chengdu F-7, Mikoyan MiG-29
Helicopter	Bell 206, Bell 212, Mil Mi-17
Interceptor	Chengdu F-7
Trainer	Nanchang PT-6, Cessna T-37, Aero L-39
Transport	Antonov An-32, Lockheed C-130

The Bangladesh Air Force (বাংলাদেশ বিমান বাহিনী Bangladesh Biman Bahini in Bangla), is the air arm of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. Bangladesh Air Force currently employs more than 11,000 personnel including 600+ Pilots.

History

Bangladesh Air Force was officially formed at the Sector Commanders Conference during its independence war from Pakistan in 1971. Its official date of formation has been established as September 28, 1971 and it was launched formally by the Government on 8 October 1971. A number of BAF officers participated in the Bangladesh Liberation War. Initially, BAF was formed with all officers and airmen of Bengali origin serving in the Pakistan Air Force prior to the war. At that time, the embryo of Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) was formed with less than hundred officers and airmen. During the independence war, officers of the BAF attached to the Z-Force were Squadron Leader M. Hamidullah Khan,as Commander-Sector 11, Flight Lieutenant Liaqat as Battalion Adjutant, Flying Officer Rouf, Flying Officer Ashraf and Flight Sergeant Shafiqullah as company commanders. Squadron Leader Sadruddin Hossain, Squadron Leader Wahidur Rahim, Squadron Leader Nurul Qader, Squadron Leader Shamsur Rahman and Air Commodore Ataur Rahman as sub sector company commanders. Wing Commander Khademul Bashar participated in the war as Commander-Sector 6.
Near the end of the war a symbolic flight known as 'Kilo Flight' was flown to establish the Bangladesh Air Force. Initially, 'Kilo Flight' consisted of three aircraft provided by the Indian authorities. Nine officers and 47 airmen were given a symbolic operation to mark the beginning of the air force. Squadron Leader Sultan Mahmud was appointed as the commander of the 'Kilo Flight' with two transport planes and one helicopter. After repairing the three air crafts into some operational form, 'Kilo Flight' successfully began its maiden operational flight as part of the new air force. It bombed several fuel storage in Chittagong and Narayangonj area and thus the journey of BAF had commenced.
During the war, Pakistan transferred a huge amount of essential war materials and equipment to then West Pakistan that was originally assigned and appropriated for the eastern zone. After independence BAF received a significant donation from the former USSR and later from China. Among the aircraft delivered were Ten single-seat MiG-21MF and two twin-seat MiG-21UM.
In 1972, three aircraft 1 C-47 Dakota, 1 de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter and a French Aérospatiale Alouette III helicopter were left to Bangladesh by India. The Pakistan Air Force prior to 1971 had a large number of Bengali pilots, air traffic controllers, technicians and administrative officers. Many of them distinguished themselves during the Bangladesh Liberation War, thus despite the lack of aircraft, they provided the nascent Bangladesh Air Force with a good number of trained personnel.

Disaster in 1991

In 1991, devastating cyclone struck the Bangladeshi coast and around 80 operational BAF aircraft were lost or damaged beyond repair. That did limit the operational capability of BAF significantly at that time. But slowly BAF recovered from the setback and now maintains a high standard of maintenance and situational awareded Air Force personnel in 1971
During the independence war of 1971, many career air force officers and men participated in different sectors in Bangladesh and also at the headquarters. Below are a list of some notable participants.

Wing Commander Khademul Bashar

PAF-BAF - Deceased while Air Vice Marshall and Chief of Air Staff.

Squadron Leader M.Hamidullah Khan

PAF-BAF

Squadron Leader Sadruddin Hossain

PAF-BAF – Retired as Air Vice Marshall and Chief of Air Staff.

Squadron Leader Ataur Rahman

PAF-BAF

Squadron Leader Wahidur Rahim

PAF-BAF – Retired as Wing Commander.

Squadron Leader Nurul Kader

PAF-BAF

Squadron Leader Shamsur Rahman

PAF-BAF

Squadron Leader Sultan Mahmud

PAF-BAF – Retired as Air Vice Marshall and Chief of Air Staff.

Squadron Leader Islam

PAF-BAF

Squadron Leader Shamsul Alam

PAF-BAF

Flight Lieutenant Matiur Rahman

PAF-BAF – Killed during a daring attempt to defect to Bangladesh.

Flight Lieutenant Liaqat

PAF-BAF

Flight Lieutenant Iqbal Rashid

PAF-BAF

Flight Lieutenant Badrul Alam

PAF-BAF – Asst. to Group Captain A K Khandker

Flying Officer Rouf

Flying Officer Ashraf

Flight Sergeant Abu Yusuf Khan

Flight Sergeant Shafiqullah

Non Combatant Staff

Group Captain A K Khandker PAF-BAF – Was assigned as the Deputy Chief of Staff under Lieutenant Colonel Abdur Rab, as of end of May 1971. His primary responsibility consisted of liaison with local Indian officials and defense personnel at Kalyani, Calcutta.
Squadron Leader Badrul Alam PAF-BAF - Was A K Khandkers deputy in 1971 at Kalyani, Calcutta.

Distinguished personnel

Group Captain Safiul Azam PAF-BAF( Legendary Eagle Of The Sky )

Organizational structure

The Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) has its HQ at Dhaka Cantonment. HQ has 3 branches, Operations & Training (Ops. & Trng.), Administration and Special Duties (Admin. & SD) and Material & Maintenance (M & Mte). Each branch is headed by officers who are considered as Principal Staff Officer (PSO)and known as Assistant Chief of Air Staff, e.g. ACAS (Ops & Trng). Under each PSO there are various Directorates headed by Directors of Group Captain Rank. Under each Director there are Deputy Directors (DD) and Staff Officers (SO).

Office of the Chief of Air Staff (COAS) Air Secretary's Branch Chief Inspectorate Directorate of Air Intelligence Judge Advocate General

Operations & Training Branch Directorate of Air Defence Directorate of Air Operations Directorate of Air Traffic Services Directorate of Air Training Directorate of Education Directorate of Flight Safety Directorate of IT Directorate of Meteorology Directorate of Plan Directorate of Recruitment

Administrative Branch and Special Duties Chief Engineer's Office Directorate of Administrative Co-ordination Directorate of Finance Directorate of Medical Services Directorate of Personnel Directorate of Provost Marshal Directorate of Welfare and Ceremony Directorate of Works

Material and Maintenance Branch Directorate of Armament and Weapons Directorate of Communication & Electronics Directorate of Engineering Directorate of Project Directorate of Supply

Command Structure

Shoulder/Sleeve insignia	Appointment	Rank & Name	Star Plate
	Chief of the Air Staff	Air Marshal Shah Mohammad Ziaur Rahman ndc, afwc, psc	‎
	Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Operations & Training)	Air Vice Marshal Abu Esrar ndu, acsc
	Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Administration and Special Duties)	Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Enamul Bari ndu, psc
	Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Material and Maintenance)	Air Commodore Mazhar
	Air Officer Commanding, BAF Base Khademul Bashar	Air Commodore Naeem Hasan
	Air Officer Commanding, BAF Base Kurmitola	Air Commodore Mashihuzzaman Serniabat
	Air Officer Commanding, BAF Base Zahurul Haq	Air Commodore Sanaul Huq
	Air Officer Commanding, BAF Base Matiur Rahman	Air Commodore Abul Bashar
	Air Officer Commanding, BAF Base Paharkanchanpur	Air Commodore Anwar

Branches

Branches of Bangladesh Air Force are:

Accounts

Administration and Training

Air Defence Weapon Controller

Air Traffic Control

Education

Engineering

General Duty (Navigator)

General Duty (Pilot)

Legal

Logistics

Meteorology

Installations

View of BAF Information and Selection Centre, Dhaka

BAF Headquarters is located in Dhaka Cantonment. There are numerous bases set up all over the country. BAF Base Khademul Bashar Dhaka, BAF Base Zahurul Haque Chittagong and BAF Base Matiur Rahman Jessore are named after National as well as Air Force heroes. Other major bases are BAF Base Kurmitola Dhaka and BAF Base Pahar Kanchanpur Tangail. There are also several independent units and detachments in places like Moulavibazar Radar Unit (MRU), Bogra Radar Unit (BRU), No. 74 Squadron Bangladesh Air Force at Chittagong & No.71 Sqadron Bangladesh Air Force at Dhaka & Shamshernagar (Sylhet). Recently the plan for a new Forward Operations Base (FOB) at Coxs Bazar has been approved for which a construction program is already underway.

Bangladesh Air Force Academy is the commissioned officer training academy for all branches of Bangladesh Air Force. It is located at BAF Base Matiur Rahman in Jessore.

Officer ranks

(in descending order) Bangladesh Air Force

	Air Chief Marshal	Air Marshal	Air Vice-Marshal	Air Commodore	Group Captain	Wing Commander	Squadron Leader	Flight Lieutenant	Flying Officer	Pilot Officer

Aircraft Inventory

A BAF MiG-29

A BAF An-32 Cline

Type of Aircraft	Number of Aircraft	Unit Assignment	Notes
Multi Role Combat Aircraft	64+	Squadrons: 5, 8, 21 & 35
Operational Conversion Unit	22+	Squadrons: 5, 8, 21 & 35
Counter Insurgency	15+	Squadrons: 25	Also used in advanced jet conversion role.
Transport Aircraft	7	Squadrons: 3 & 101st Special Flying Unit	An-32 has dual transport/bomber role.
Helicopter	41+	Squadrons: 1, 9, 31 & 101st Special Flying Unit	All armed.
Intermediate Jet Trainer	12+	Squadrons: 15
Rotary Wing Trainer	4	Squadrons: 18
Primary Fixed Wing Trainer	40+	Squadrons: 11

Future Modernization Program

BAF has an ongoing modernization program that includes plan to introduce 16 x F-7BG Air Guard aircraft for FOB at Cox's Bazar, one Squadron of MiG-29 MKI and 2 state of the art Air Defence Radar within 2012. BAF will also include SAM to strenghthen the ground based air-defence throughout the country. The formation of an Air Regiment, which will be responsible for the defence of the airforce bases is also on progress.

UN Mission Deployment

More than 600+ BAF personnel, including officers & airmen, 10 BAF helicopters are currently deployed to various UN Missions. Another C-130 transport aircraft is providing support to UN Mission in Africa.

Guided Weapons

Name	Version	Type	Used by	Notes
PL-2		Infrared Guided Air-to-air missile	F-7MB, A-5C
PL-5	E	Active Infrared Guided Air-to-air missile	F-7MB, A-5C
PL-7		Infrared Guided Air-to-air missile	F-7MB, A-5C	PRC version of the French Matra Magic R.550 missile.
PL-9	C	Infrared Guided Air-to-air missile	F-7BG
Vympel R-27		Infrared Guided (R-27T), Semi Active Radar Guided (R-27R), and Active Radar Guided (R-27AE)	MiG-29
Vympel R-73		Infrared Guided Air-to-air missile	MiG-29
Vympel R-77		Active Radar Guided Air-to-air missile	MiG-29
LT-2		Laser Guided Bomb	F-7BG, F-7MB, A-5C
LS-6		Satellite Guided Bomb	F-7BG, F-7MB, A-5C

Small Arms

Name	Type	Caliber	Origin	Notes
Type 92	Semi-automatic pistol	9mm	China	Standard issue sidearm.
Sarsilmaz Cobra Special Tactical	Semi-automatic shotgun	12 gauge	Turkey	Standard BAF issue shotgun.
BD-08	Assault rifle	7.62mm	Bangladesh	Produced under license by BOF.
BD-08	Light machine gun	7.62mm	Bangladesh	Produced under license by BOF.
RPD	Light machine gun	7.62mm	Soviet Union
MGL Mk1	Grenade launcher	46mm	South Africa	In service with BAF Ground Security Unit.