Five day long annual exercise of Bangladesh Air Force is continuing in full swing, said ISPR.
As part of the exercise, BAF pilots are conducting various types of missions with fighter, transport & helicopters following air combat tactics and procedures.
All such missions include Combat Air Patrol (CAP), ground attack, troops & logistic transportation, tactical reconnaissance, Combat Search & Rescue (CSAR) and Combat Air Support (CAS) for own land & maritime forces.
Chief of Air Staff of Bangladesh Air Force Air Chief Marshal Shaikh Abdul Hannan visited BAF Base Bangabandhu during the exercise on Tuesday to oversee their performance and activities. After inspection of the exercise, he said, BAF has capability of air defense and this capability will be increased through the exercise.
He also said that, through this exercise, it will be possible to determine the capability of newly included radar and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The exercise mission and activities are carried out from Sunday all over Bangladesh airspace from 6 major BAF bases and its different units located at Sylhet, Tangail, Lalmonirhat, Shamsernagar, Rasulpur, Sudharampur, Bogura and Barisal.
Apart from different aircraft and helicopters, all BAF personnel along with Air Defence Radar, Surface to Air Missile (SAM) and Unmanned Aerial System Unit (UASU) units are also taking part in this exercise.
During this exercise, identification of the enemy aircraft through various radar squadrons is being carried out and practiced the mechanism to neutralize the attack with the help of fighter and missile unit.
Notable exercises were Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) mission by BAF helicopter and BAF Commando team, Emergency logistics supply by BAF transport aircraft, identification of explosive and neutralization by BAF Bomb Disposal Unit and Scramble by Air Defense Alert (ADA) aircraft to neutralize enemy intruders, surveillance by drone and time sensitive target etc.
The main objective of the annual exercise is to assess present BAF capability and also to identify different weaknesses to improve further through evaluation of tactics and acquisition of assets.
Overall, this exercise is surely going to expand BAF capability to safeguard our national airspace in coming days, said the ISPR handout.