Military of Bangladesh

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Military of Bangladesh
Military branches	Army, Navy, Air Force
Military manpower
Military age	18 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription (2005)
Availability	males age 18-49: 35,170,019 (2005)
Fit for military service	males age 15-49: 26,841,255 (2005)
Active Troops	1,71,950 (2005)
Military expenditures
Dollar figure	$995.3 million (2004)
Percent of GDP	1.8% (2004)

The Bangladesh Army, Navy, and Air Force are composed of regular military personnel. Some of the senior officers and noncommissioned officers served in the Military of Pakistan before the 1971 independence war. Senior officers include "repatriates" who were interned in Pakistan during the war, and freedom fighters who fought against Pakistan.

In addition to traditional defense roles, the military has been called on to provide support to civil authorities for disaster relief and internal security.

Bangladesh armies current strength is estimated to be more than 200,000 (though 50,000 is on LPR) personnel, Bangladesh Air Force consists of more than 7,000 personnel And Bangladesh Navy with 14,950 personnel[1], perform traditional military missions. A Coast Guard has been recently formed, under the Home Ministry, to play a stronger role in the area of anti-smuggling, anti-piracy, and protection of offshore resources. Recognition of economic and fiscal constraints has led to the establishment of several paramilitary and auxiliary forces, including the 40,000-member Bangladesh Rifles; the Ansars and Village Defense Parties Organization, which claims 64 members in every village in the country; and a 5,000-member specialized police unit known as the Armed Police. The Bangladesh Rifles, under the authority of the Home Ministry, are commanded by army officers who are seconded to the organization.

In addition to in-country military training, some advanced and technical training takes place abroad, including grant-aid training in the United States. India, People's Republic of China, and eastern Europe are the major defense suppliers to Bangladesh, but military leaders are trying to find affordable alternatives to Chinese equipment.

A 2,300-member Bangladesh Army contingent served with coalition forces during the 1991 Gulf war. Bangladesh is currently the second highest contributor (with 9,655 members as of 31st October 2006) to United Nations peacekeeping operations, with an infantry battalion in UNIKOM (Kuwait), an engineer battalion in UNTAET, (East Timor) and another infantry battalion scheduled for service in Sierra Leone in May 2000.

1 Data
2 Neutral Stance
3 Current deployments
4 Training
5 Military Ranks
6 Organization
7 Para-Military Force
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] Data

The highest award given by the Bangladesh Armed Forces is the Bir Sreshtho, given to the bravest of Martyrs.
Other awards include Bir Uttam, Bir Bikram and Bir Pratik.

[edit] Neutral Stance

Recent political decisions have strongly emphasized the will to participate in international operations, to the point where this has become the main short-term goal of training and equipment acquisition.

Bangladesh aims to have the option of remaining neutral in case of proximate war, and therefore not a formal member of any military alliance.

[edit] Current deployments

Currently, Bangladesh has deployed military forces in several countries under UN. Bangladesh Armed Forces is active in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Angola, Somalia, Haiti, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Bangladesh ranked 1 in number of personnel in UN peacekeeping force. The government refused to participate in Iraq on a request from USA.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Training

Officers are trained at the Bangladesh Military Academy located in Chittagong, southern part of the country. In further parts of their careers, officers are often sent to Staff College within or outside Bangladesh, National Defence College and Armed Forces War Course within or outside Bangladesh.

[edit] Military Ranks

Bangladesh military ranks, essentially corresponds to those used by the armed forces of the English speaking world.

There are three different systems of rank for commissioned officers, depending on whether one is commissioned in the Army, Navy and Air Force. Although Para-military forces used their own system of ranking, Bangladesh Rifles (border security force) use same ranking system as army.

Army Ranks
Field Marshal
General
Lieutenant General
Major General
Brigadier General
Colonel
Lieutenant Colonel
Major
Captain
Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant

The military introduced the rank of Brigadier General in 2001. All officers were commissioned as "Second Lieutenant. Above colonel , ranking is a political will to in the armed forces. No Field Marshals have been appointed yet. Only 2 persons were ranked as General: General Osmani, chief of Bangladesh Liberation Force in 1971 and Mustafizur Rahman, chief of Bangladesh Army in 1997 to 2001.

[edit] Organization

[edit] Branches

Bangladesh Army (Sena Bahini)
Bangladesh Navy (Nou Bahini)
Bangladesh Air Force (Biman Bahini)

[edit] Specialized Forces

Special Security Forces
- Presidential Guards Regiment
- Bangladesh Army Commandos
- Para-commandos
- Special Security Forces (SSF)
- Rapid Action Battalion
Coast Guard of Bangladesh

[edit] Military Districts

Secret. No information is acquired yet.

[edit] Schools

Some of the schools listed below answers to other units, listed under the various branches of the Armed Forces.

Bangaldesh Military Academy (BMA), Bhatiary, Chittagong
School Of Infantry and Tactics (SINT), Jalalabad Cantonment, Sylhet.
Defense Services Command and Staff College (DSC&SC), Mirpur Cant.
National Defence College (NDC), Mirpur Cant, Dhaka.
Military Institute of Science & Technology (MIST) Mirpur.
Armoured Corps Center & School (ACC&S, Majhira Cant, Bogra.
Engineer Centre and School of Military Engineering, Quadirabad Cant, Natore.
Signal Training Centre and School, Jessore Cant.
Ordnance Corps Centre & School, Rajendrapur Cantonment, Gazipur
Bangladesh Institute of Peace Support Operation Training (BIPSOT), Rajendrapur Cantonment, Gazipur.
Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Centre and School, Saidpur Cant.
Corps of Military Police Centre and School, Ghatail Cant, Tangail.
Army School of Education and Administration, Ghatail Cant, Tangail.
Army School of Physical Training and Sports (ASPTS), Dhaka Cant.
Army School of Music, Ctg Cant, Ctg.
Armed Forces Medical College, Dhaka.
Artillery Center and School, Halishahar, Chittagong.
School of Military Intelligence, Comilla Cant.
Army Computer Training School (ACTS) Dhaka Cant, Dhaka.
Non Commissioned Officers Academy, Majhira Cant, Bogra.