Bangladesh set to install new air defence radar system near India’s ‘Chicken’s Neck’

Defence affairs - chandan nandy analysis

Bangladesh Air Force has plans to replace the aging existing radar system with a new facility at Lalmonirhat airbase which was visited by Indian Military Intelligence officers and Bangladesh Army chief Gen Waker-uz-Zaman on October 16.

Notwithstanding the Indian defence establishment’s reservations, the Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) continues to pursue construction work at the site of the new hangar for fighter jets at Lalmonirhat airbase, even as there are clear indications that a new radar system is being readied for installation at this facility near the India-Bangladesh border.

Bangladesh security sources disclosed to Northeast News that components for the new radar system arrived by truck at the expansive Lalmonirhat airbase about two weeks ago.

Sources said plans were afoot to construct a concrete platform and a commensurate building for emplacing the defence radar system, which would be a considerable upgrade over the existing aging system at Lalmonirhat airbase. There is an existing small concrete structure – the wireless room – about 70 metres from the new hangar. New residential complexes have also come up inside the airbase precincts over the last six months.

Air defence radars provide critical capabilities for surveillance, target acquisition and threat detection. The main components of a military grade radar system include a transmitter, antennas, a receiver and a processor, along with other key parts such as a command-and-control centre, tracking systems, and weapons launchers.

The Lalmonirhat airbase has an old radar system. The new system that is being sought to be built would be close to the older structure. Informed sources said that every month, at least flights involving helicopters and a small plane are operated at Lalmonirhat airbase.

Northeast News had earlier reported that work on a large hangar for parking at least 10-12 fighter aircraft had nearly been completed. The report was published shortly after a three-member team of Indian Military Intelligence officers led by a major general toured Lalmonirhat and the nearby Thakurgaon airbases, besides unidentified sites at Nilphamari and Saidabad – all in Rangpur division – on October 16.