Now Turkish Air Defense System will try protecting Dhaka – after failing to defend Paki skies
Turkish HISAR O air defence system
By Col Awadhesh Kumar
Self Styled Khalifa Erdogan’s propaganda department is seen to be hyper active once again. Turkey’s likely sale of its air defence system to Bangladesh is now being touted as one of South Asia’s most significant strategic move. A defense deal with Turkey is in its final stages, an agreement that will see Dhaka acquire the SIPER long-range air defense system and potentially co-produce Turkish combat drones.Most probably Yunus who is illegaly ruling Bangladesh seems to be oblivious of failure of both Chinese and Turkish Air defence systems against India during Operation Sindoor. These highly touted systems failed to prevent the thrashing which Pakis received.
Dhaka’s shopping list for Turkish weaponry, as per Yunus and his Islamist gang, is a direct response to threats from Myanmmar border that have become impossible to ignore. For years, the brutal civil war raging in neighboring Myanmar has literally spilled across the border. Stray artillery shells have landed in Bangladeshi territory, and Myanmar’s military aircraft, mainly of Chinese origin, have violated its airspace with alarming frequency.
Various incidents are compelling the illegal government in Dhaka to demonstrate that it can protect its borders. The problem is that lacks the tools to do so effectively. Bangladesh’s existing air defenses are a patchwork of older, shorter-range systems, leaving critical areas like the port of Chittagong and the refugee camps near Cox’s Bazar dangerously exposed.
Therefore, the drive for military modernization serves a dual purpose: to create a credible defense against the immediate chaos erupting from Myanmar and have bargaining chips to deal with India.The Turkish package a combination of the medium-range Hisar-O+ and the long-range SIPER system does provide a modern, integrated air defense shield against any intrusion from Myanammar side.
For the first time, Dhaka would have the ability to deny its airspace, raising the cost of any potential violation by Myanmar Air Force. The drone manufacturing facility is arguably even more important in the long run. By moving toward co-production, Bangladesh is investing in its own industrial base for self-reliance,.
Through this strategy, Dhaka Instead of tying its fate exclusively to China or the West, is deliberately diversifying its portfolio. By bringing Turkey, a NATO member with an independent streak, into its inner circle, Dhaka is dreaming of enhancing its leverage with all other partners. Rather it’s a clear message to India that Bangladesh will not be its client state. Well Yunus should deeply study the Azerbaijjan -Armenia, Greece – Turkey and Cyprus Turkey Scenarios before expanding this game.
For Khalifa Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s grand vision of a globally influential Turkey this deal with Dhaka is certainly more than a commercial one. He is desperate to expand Turkish influence across Asia through a mix of trade, religion and military-industrial partnerships.
Though his drones may have proven itself in Libya and initially helped Azerbaizan and Ukraine, they have miserably flopped against India when deployed by Pakistan during Operation SINDOOR. Thus Turkey’s defense industry trying to give a push to its foreign policy has already started floundering.
Turkey claims that it offers ” near-NATO-standard technology” without the political baggage and restrictions that often come with American or European hardware, and it also sweetens the deal with willingness to share technology and co-produce.
For a system like SIPER, Turkey’s indigenous long-range interceptor, securing a foreign buyer like Bangladesh is an enormous publicity for competing against Chinese weapons sales.This positions Turkey as the go-to provider for nations seeking alternatives to the Chinese offerings. A foothold in Bangladesh gives Turkey a sale presence and perhaps help it to reach markets in the region.
Turkey SIPER missile system export to Bangladesh is certainly not going to tilt South Asia’s air power balance in any manner. Even the American and Chinese arms supply to Pakistan have failed to achieve this.
In New Delhi, this news has certainly given a mild headache for India’s foreign policy planners. The Indian military establishment is not worried at all by such nuisances, but the foreign policy calculus needs a re look. Any contingency planning, however remote, must be rewritten.
It is clear that through this arms deal, Yunus and gang are trying to taunt India because it has given asylum to PM Sheikh Hasina. She was forced to flee Dhaka in a well planned Coup by falsely informing the President that the PM has resigned. Legally Sheikh Hasina is still the PM of Bangladesh.
India which is now the third largest economy ( PPP terms — the real indicator of any economy ) has also established itself as a rising world military power and among the top four. Acting like Abdullah Yameen of Maldives who nearly mortgaged Maldives to China, Yunus thinks that by buying weapons from Khalifa Erdogan, he is buying sovereignty for Bangladesh.
While Turkey, which during SINDOOR had even dispatched a naval ship to Karachi it’s about trying to project power. For India,, it’s certainly a new and unwelcome headache which will require a firm Swatting incase it crosses the RED LINE as assumed by India.
New Delhi has a well practiced policy for managing and countering Chinese inroads in its neighborhood but now Khalifa too is trying to make an entry.
India has already responded swiftly. It not only dispatched a naval ship to exercise with Greece and France etc in the Agean Sea but is now maintaining a continuous presence there. It is also actively helping the Greek and Cyprus Forces through a defence agreement. Armenia already a big customer for Indian defence equipment may also be supplied with Akash air defence missiles, anti drone systems and even BRAHMOS to gain complete superiority over Azerbaizan Forces equipped with Turkish and Paki defence systems.
It should be clear to all and sundry…from America to Turkey that just as deployment of Russian missiles in Cuba are not acceptable to USA, just as Ukraine becoming a NATO member is not acceptable to Russia, similarly beyond a certain point no political or economic meddling is acceptable to India in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal by any outsider and any military presence is certainly a bright RED LINE.
