[sukhoi-30mki]

Bangladesh has ordered 24 Yakovlev Yak-130 advanced jet trainers, Russian media report, in a $800 million deal it will finance thanks to a soft Russian loan. (Wikipedia photo)

[C19fan]

Why does Bangladesh even need a military?

[Da Coyote]

I’ll take one.

[yarddog]

I wonder if Russia will ever get the loan repaid?

[PowderMonkey]

They can hardly feed their own people, but will spend $800 million for training jets. Reminds me of an old comedy movie, "John Goldfarb Please Come Home" wherein one scene the senate foreign relations committee is grilling the DOD over transfer of fighter jets to a small third world country that has no pilots or airports:

Senator: "can you tell me why we're sending them these planes? Who's going to fly them?"
AF Colonel in charge of the program: "Well, you see, sir...they don't actually fly them. The opposition groups place them on two really big hills, facing each other. Then, roll them down hill at each other, sorta' crashing them together. Then, they start throwing spears at each other.

[Wuli]

and to whom is such a security need directed at????

I can only imagine the political class’s need for
“internal security” measures against its own population
as the cause behind this purchase.

India poses no threat to Bangladesh and Pakistan no longer does either. That leaves just Bangladesh’s dysfunctional politics and its always restive populace as conditions that threaten the security of the state at any time.

Frankly I’m glad the planes are not coming from us. We let Pakistan play us for geopolitical fools for years, as they promoted their “cold-war stance with us” to obtain billions in arms that they really had only one desired interest for - use against India. I can only imagine one target the state is trying to impress, and warn, with these planes - their own people.