Bangladesh Navy frigate program is a planned project of building 6 multi-role stealth

guided missile frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

for

Bangladesh Navy The Bangladesh Navy ( bn, বাংলাদেশ নৌবাহিনী, Bangladesh Nou Bahini) is the naval warfare branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, responsible for Bangladesh's of maritime territorial area, and the defence of imp ...

. In 2017, plan for the frigate project under the

Forces Goal 2030 Forces Goal 2030 is a military modernization program of the Bangladesh Armed Forces which began in 2009 and revised in 2017, designed to the capabilities of the three services of the Bangladesh armed forces: the Army, the Navy and the Air Forc ...

officially announced.

is inspecting proposals from several companies to evolve their designs into a prospective design for the proposed six guided-missile frigates.

Development

Chittagong Dry Dock Limited Chittagong Dry Dock Limited (CDDL), formerly an enterprise of Bangladesh Steel and Engineering Corporation, is a state-owned military ship repair facility based in Chittagong Port, Bangladesh. CDDL is one of the largest ship repair facilities in ...

(CDDL) has been selected as prime contractor for the frigate program of

. The frigates will be equipped with state of the art military hardware, sensors, electronic warfare systems etc. The lifespan of each frigate is estimated to be 30 years in average. The project has been delayed due to some geo-political and recent changes in foreign policies. At the beginning of the project, it was estimated that all of the frigates will be built with Chinese technical assistance and complete transfer of technology but the program was revised in 2017, following the

Rohingya refugee crisis In 2015, tens of thousands of Rohingya people were forcibly displaced from their villages and Internally displaced person, IDP camps in Rakhine State, Myanmar, due to sectarian violence. Some fled to neighbouring Bangladesh, but most travelled ...

. In 2018, Commodore Mohammad Nazmul Karim said, two frigates will be commissioned in 2022, two by 2025 and two by 2030. However,

made some new requirements on the project mainly to focus on NATO standards. As a result, many renowned shipbuilding companies from European countries have shown interest. The project has become a major priority of

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

and Prime Minister's Office. Despite delays on starting the construction of the frigates, it is confirmed that all of the frigates will be completed by 2030.

Contenders

In this multi-billion dollar project, companies from several countries have submitted proposals for conceptual designs to

under joint venture program, complete transfer of technology as well as technical assistance and maintenance support. Renowned shipbuilding companies from

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

and

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

have shown interest.

Potential warship designs

List of latest frigate classes available for export from the mentioned countries: *

Istanbul-class frigate The ''Istanbul''-class frigates are a planned group of four multirole frigates for the Turkish Naval Forces. Developed under the MILGEM national warship program as the I-class frigate, the ''Istanbul'' class is an enlarged version of the anti- ...

MILGEM project MILGEM project is a national warship program of the Republic of Turkey. Managed by the Turkish Navy, the project aims at developing multipurpose corvettes, frigates and destroyers that can be deployed in a range of missions, including reconnaiss ...

: STM with Istanbul Naval Shipyard, Turkey. * Arrowhead 140 frigate design:

Babcock International Babcock International Group plc is a British aerospace, defence and nuclear engineering services company based in London, England. It specialises in managing complex assets and infrastructure. Although the company has civil contracts, its main b ...

. * Sigma 11515 frigate design:

Damen Group The Damen Group is a Dutch defence, shipbuilding, and engineering conglomerate company based in Gorinchem, Netherlands. Though it is a major international group doing business in 120 countries, it remains a private family-owned company. Dame ...

*Italian

FREMM The FREMM (French: ''Frégate Européenne Multi-Mission''; Italian: ''Fregata Europea Multi-Missione''), which stands for "European multi-purpose frigate", is a Franco-Italian family of multi-purpose frigates designed by Naval Group and Fincanti ...

design:

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

, Italy. *French FREMM design:

Naval Group Naval Group is a major French industrial group specialized in naval defense design, development and construction. Its headquarters are located in Paris. Heir to the French naval dockyards initiated in 1631 by Cardinal Richelieu and to the Direc ...

, France. *French FDI Frigate design: Naval Group, France.

References

{{Reflist Ships of the Bangladesh Navy Frigates of the Bangladesh Navy Proposed ships