The most formidable ships in the navy were three vintage frigates purchased from Britain in the late 1970s. These included two Leopard-class Type 41 frigates, renamed Abu Bakr and Ali Haider, and one Salisbury-class Type 61 frigate, renamed Umar Farooq. The most modern craft in the inventory were twenty-four patrol boats purchased from the Chinese between 1982 and 1984. These included four Hegu-class fast attack craft, armed with missiles; four P4-class fast-attack craft, armed with torpedoes; and eight Hainan-class and eight Shanghai II-class fast attack patrol craft. These vessels patrolled coastal waters and rivers to interdict foreign fishing vessels and assert Bangladeshi sovereignty over its territorial waters.
Other vessels in the Bangladeshi inventory included vintage patrol craft purchased from China, Yugoslavia, India, Japan, and Singapore; a recommissioned Pakistani patrol boat; a similar craft converted from a Thai fishing boat; and five indigenously built Pabna-class riverine patrol craft. Bangladesh also maintained a merchant fleet comprising 274 vessels. Since all were government owned, merchant vessels could be pressed into service during hostilities.
During the 1996-2001, the then Awami League government implemented many steps to build the Navy as a modern force. Commissioning of Naval ships Titas, Kushiara and Barkat, incorporation of modern LPC Madhumati, diversion of BNS Shoibal into modern survey ship, establishment of Bangladesh Navy's Hydrographic and Oceanographic Center and inclusion of School of Maritime Warfare and Tactics are among the development works done by the Awami League government.
In 2002 the Prime Minister announced that Bangaldesh would buy a pair of Lupo-class frigates from the Italian Navy, but the ships were sold to Peru instead. Victory day is celebrated on December 16 in Bangladesh. On this day in 1971, the Pakistani Army surrendered to the Indo-Bangladeshi High Command in Dhaka, ending the 1971 Bangladesh atrocities. Bangladesh gained independence after 9 months of a long and bloody struggle. One interesting feature of the 2003 Victory Day celebration was the military armament exhibition, organised by the three armed forces between 16 and 20 December 2003. The Bangladesh Navy displayed some future projects like submarine and helicopter carriers.
With limited resources, materialisation remained a difficult proposition.'The Draft Forces Goal 2020 for BN' in 2005/06 envisaged the Bangladesh Navy (BN) with submarines, helicopters, maritime patrol aircrafts and so forth. As of 2005 Bangladesh was thinking about purchasing Lupo class frigates from Italy. Bangladesh was interested in Type-23 Duke class friagtes but could not confront the cost. as of 2007 Bangladesh was said to be interested in a "Sapsan 2100" Ukranian frigate, but nothing came of this, and the "Sapsan 2100" is un-attested outside of Combat Fleets of the World.
In early 2009 the navy sent the Armed Forces Division (AFD) an ambitious ten-year plan to upgrade it into a three-dimensional force, in line with the proposed Forces Goal-2020. The report placed before the parliamentary standing committee on the defence ministry on 08 June 2009. Bangladesh Navy sought new frigates, a submarine, maritime patrol aircraft, helicopters and other equipment with an estimated cost of Tk 6,000 crore. The plan was prepared after considering the recent maritime situation, budgetary allocation, market prices of required equipment and other matters.
“Bangladesh Navy will obtain capability of a three-dimensional force if its aviation wing and a submarine are added to its fleet,” believes the navy, tasked with protecting the nation’s territorial waters, safeguard Bangladesh’s economic interest and exercise maritime control within the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf. Citing the need for a three dimensional modern force, the navy said aircraft and submarines along with surface fleets are considered essential parts to increase a navy’s combat capability. “It was not possible in the past to introduce aircraft and submarines in the fleet due to various adversities despite having the plan and desire,” the navy observes.
Apart from purchasing equipment, it also proposed formation of Special Warfare and Diving Salvage (SWADS) Command for carrying out a special warfare to control militancy and smuggling in sea and rivers. “If the special force is formed, it will be able to play active role along with the two other forces in sea and rivers,” the navy said.
The navy also proposed increasing its personnel, setting up naval bases and training institutes. The proposals now await the government’s consideration. On manpower, the navy proposed increasing 4,000 personnel of various ranks in the next 10 years. The existing approved manpower of the navy as of 2009 was 17,000.
The proposals include setting up bases for naval commandos, divers, rescuers and naval aviation, and development of a naval base in Mongla. Other proposals are installation of a junior staff training institute, navy hydrographic unit, oceanographic centre and operational sea training guide, and approval of the organogram of Khulna and Narayanganj shipyards.
The navy was also preparing more proposals to this end for sending to the government for consideration. Those include setting up of a naval base at St Martine’s Island, submarine base, setting up a separate naval base in Dhaka, and restructuring the organogram of the naval headquarters and area commanders’ headquarters.
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