BNS Bangabandhu

Career (Bangladesh)
Class and type: Ulsan Class
Name: BNS Bangabandhu
Ordered: 1998
Builder: Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Republic of Korea
Laid down: March 11, 1998
Launched: August 29, 2000
Commissioned: June 20, 2001
Recommissioned: July 13, 2007
Decommissioned: February 13, 2002
In service: 2001-Present
Reclassified: Reduced to the reserve on February 13, 2002
Homeport: Chittagong
Status: In service
General characteristics
Displacement:2400-2500 tones
Length:103.7 m (340 ft)
Beam:12.5 m (41 ft)
Draught:3.8 m (12 ft)
Propulsion:CODAD: 4 SEMT-Pielstick 12V PA6V280 STC diesels; 22,501 hp (16.78 MW) sustained; 2 × shafts
Speed:25 knots (46 km/h)
Range:4,000 n miles
Complement:186 (16 officers)
Electronic warfare
and decoys:		ESM:Racal Cutlass 242; intercept ECM:Racal Scorpion; jammer
Armament:2 × 4 Otomat Mk. II Block IV AShM;

1 × 8 FM-90N SAM;
1 × Otobreda 76 mm/62 Super Rapid;
4 × Otobreda 40 mm/70 (2 twin) compact CIWS;
6(2 triple) x 324 mm B-515 tubes - Whitehead A244S;

2 × Super Barricade chaff launchers
Aircraft carried:1 × Hangar, 1 ×AgustaWestland AW109 ASW/SAR Helicopter
Nickname(s):BNS BB
Notes:Pennant Number: F-25

BNS Bangabandhu (Bangla:বানৌজা বঙ্গবন্ধু) is a Guided Missile Frigate of the Bangladesh Navy, and is one of the most modern currently in service. She is currently moored at Chittagong, serving with the Commodore Commanding BN Flotilla (COMBAN). About 200 personnel serve aboard her. This frigate type is said to the most modern frigate of its class according to the Bangladesh Navy.

Career

Named after Bangladesh's founding father Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who is popularly termed as Bangabandhu, she is capable of serving in a combat role, as well as performing peacetime maritime duties. She was laid down on March 11, 1998 at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, Republic of Korea, and commissioned on June 20, 2001 as BNS Bangabandhu.

Later, the ship was decommissioned for various warranty repair works and placed in reserve class-III as DW 2000-H frigate on February 13, 2002. In 2007 she was commissioned again as BNS Khalid Bin Walid. Later on 2009 she was renamed as BNS Bangabandhu.

The ship participated in Exercise Ferocious Falcon, a Multinational Crisis Management Exercise, held at Doha, Qatar in November, 2012. On the way, She visited the port of Kochi, India.[1] The ship took part in Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training(CARAT) from 2011, an annual bilateral exercise with United States Navy.

On 29 August 2013, the ship got the National Standard.[2] Till then she is serving as the flagship of Bangladesh navy.

In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, a 777-200ER gone missing from the sky. Due to possibility of finding the wreckage in Bay of Bengal, BNS Bangabandhu, along with BNS Umar Farooq, joined the search operation[3] in this region.

BNS Bangabandhu (F-25) at CARAT 2012

Armament

This vessel is said to be the most modern frigate of its class according to official statistics. It is equipped with some of the most advanced systems available; the Otomat Mk.II Block.IV AShMs on board the vessel are an advanced and highly capable missile system with a range of 180+ km; these AShMs can change course mid-flight and the warship does not need to be repositioned to fire at the target (unlike other anti-ship missiles). It will be upgraded with the addition of another quad Otomat AShM launcher. Additionally the vessel is armed with sophisticated point-defence surface-to-air missile system in the form of 8 FM-90N SAMs (15 km range) and 4 × Otobreda 40 mm/70 (2 twin) compact CIWS. The vessel is also armed with 6 × 324 mm B-515 (2 triple) tubes which fire the EuroTorp Whitehead A244/S Mod.3 torpedoes (which is the latest version of that particular torpedo). All of these weapons systems together with the 1 × Otobreda 76 mm/62 Super Rapid Gun give the vessel extensive combat capability.

The AgustaWestland AW109 naval helicopter on board is compatible to fire the C-701 AShMs and torpedoes among other weapons.

Electronic Warfare

This frigate is equipped with Thales sensors including Mirador optical tracking system and Lirod Mk. 2 fire control radar. The combat management system of the ship is Thales TACTICOS.[4]

Mission

The primary role of this ship is the defence and surveillance of the country’s exclusive economic zone. She also carries out various constabulary tasks within Bangladesh’s maritime boundary against maritime terrorism, environmental pollution, smuggling and can also be deployed for search and rescue operations when necessary.

See also

References and notes

  1. ↑ http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/bns-bangabandhu-berths-at-kochi/article4066686.ece
  2. ↑ http://newsworld365.com/2013/08/29/pm-confers-national-standard-to-bns-bangabandhu/
  3. ↑ http://www.thedailystar.net/bangladesh-sends-2-navy-ships-to-verify-mh370-wreckage-claim-22435
  4. ↑ http://www.bdmilitary.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=221&Itemid=118

External links