The Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) stands at a pivotal juncture where its failure to evolve as a credible force has left the country vulnerable. While India and Myanmar surge ahead with modernization efforts, BAF continues to stagnate, stuck in a bureaucratic and outdated model that prioritizes pilot licensing over national defense.

Bangladesh can no longer afford to treat its Air Force as a licensing board—it must transform into a combat-ready force.

Instead of fostering a cadre of warriors capable of defending Bangladesh’s airspace, it has functioned largely as a factory producing pilots for commercial airlines. This misguided approach has severely undermined its integrity, stripping away any serious deterrence capabilities against adversaries who have rapidly modernized. Bangladesh no longer has the luxury of treating its air force as a licensing board—it must transform BAF into a force ready for combat.

The strategic failures of BAF are engraved in the fact that it has failed to create a credible deterrence capability against India and Myanmar. Indian Air Force (IAF) has a doctrinal focus on regional dominance, with explanations of systems like the Rafale and Su-30MKI strengthened by electronic warfare and networked air defense. The smaller Myanmar, meanwhile, has aggressively upgraded its airpower with Chinese and Russian fighters and has effectively demonstrated its ability to project force even along its borders in shelling and the like.

BAF lacks both doctrine and deterrence. Such dependency on old MiG-29s and F-7s has a large negative balance for it, while the absence of force multiplicators, i.e. airborne early warning heads, in-flight refueling, and long-range missile capacity makes it useless for modern air combat. This institutional inertia leaves Bangladesh’s airspace vulnerable and offers no decisive plan to repulse incursions or assert air dominance.

BAF’s real failure, however, is not its obsolete equipment and uncoordinated strategic concept. It is a failure of vision. Unlike smaller air forces that have offset quantitative inferiority with asymmetric strategies — Taiwan’s focus on air defense and electronic warfare, or Ukraine’s mobile air operations against Russia — BAF has neither initiative nor innovation.

Without modern fighter jets, force multipliers, and a clear deterrence strategy, BAF remains ineffective in countering regional threats.

Resource-constrained nations have effectively employed force multipliers, networked warfare, and precision strike capabilities to secure their sovereignty. Bangladesh has done none of it. Instead, it continues to be the glass-slipper brigade, still believing in the good that military aviation could do, while ignoring the type of aerial warfare we see today. If BAF were to continue along this trajectory, it would remain a mere afterthought in the region’s security calculus, thus failing in its primary duty to defend Bangladesh’s sovereignty.

The time for modest improvements is long gone. BAF needs a complete paradigm shift from being an aircraft production facility to becoming a fighting unit. This translates to the aggressive procurement of multi-role fighter jets capable of undertaking both offensive and defensive missions; the infusion of a modern air defense system that can neutralize prospective threats before they ever enter Bangladeshi airspace; and the development of an asymmetric aerial warfare doctrine which plays to the limited resources that Bangladesh has at its disposal.

India and Myanmar are advancing their air power, while Bangladesh’s reliance on outdated aircraft leaves it exposed.

Numbers do not dictate aviation warfare’s future, but how the planes are used does. BAF needs to revise its operating doctrine with an emphasis on electronic warfare, drone onboarding, network-centric warfare, and similar concepts to make the best of these threats against larger adversaries.

The complacency that has characterized BAF’s leadership must end. It is not enough to maintain a ceremonial air force for national parades while relying on diplomacy to avoid conflict. Given Bangladesh’s geopolitical realities, a powerful operationally agile air force that is ready to deal with threats with decisive action is a necessity.

However, if BAF remains in a bureaucracy that focuses on licensing and administrative processes over warfighting, the consequences will be dire. The country cannot afford to keep its air force in a state of perpetual obsolescence while regional adversaries modernize at breakneck speed. Bangladesh’s security, sovereignty, and future depend on an air force that is ready and willing to fight—not one that waits for conflict to arise before realizing it is unprepared.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not represent the views, beliefs, or policies of the Stratheia.