Bangladesh military 57th most-powerful in the world

FT ONLINE

Bangladesh has been ranked the 57th most powerful military power in the world in the Global Fire Power Index 2017.

According to the index, US ranked first, followed by Russia, China, and India while Pakistan ranked 13th and Myanmar ranked 31th on the list of 133 countries.

France, Germany, UK, Japan and Israel are among the top 15 countries.

The report also gives details which can provide a comparison between the militaries of Bangladesh, China, Pakistan, and India.

However, the report did not take into consideration the strategic forces of any country such as nuclear firepower.

The report cites that Bangladesh’s defence budget is $1.59bn as against China’s $161.7bn, India’s $51bn, Myanmar’s $2.4bn and Pakistan’s $7bn.

According to the index, Bangladesh has an active military comprising of 160,000 personnel while India has 13,62,500, China 37,12,500 and Pakistan has 637,000 military personnel.

The Bangladesh Air Force has 166 aircraft–45 fighter, 45 attack, and others.

On the other hand, neighbouring India has 2102 aircraft, China 2955, Myanmar 249, and Pakistan has a total of 951 aircraft.

According to the report, the Bangladesh Army has a total of 534 combat tanks, 942 armoured fighting vehicles, 18 self-propelled artillery guns, no towed artillery guns and 32 rocket projectors.

It added that China owns a total of 6,457 combat tanks, India 4426, 592 and Pakistan has a total of 2924 tanks, which is way more than what Bangladesh owns.

The report also says Bangladesh has a total of 89 Naval assets. The country owns six frigates, four corvettes, 28 patrol craft, five mine warfare vessels and recently added 2 submarines to her fleet but has no aircraft carriers and destroyers — elements that contribute to its maritime strength.