Two modern AW 109E Maritime Helicopters join Bangladesh Navy fleet on Tuesday aiming at turning the Bangladesh Navy into modern, more effective, stronger and ultimately three dimensional Navy.
These helicopters are capable of surveillance, search and rescue and law enforcement duties at sea, says an ISPR release on Thursday.
As the country has a vast sea area and the importance of sea in our economy is unquestionable, inclusion of maritime helicopters will raise our capability for safeguarding maritime sovereignty at sea.
The frigate BNS Bangabandhu with modern helo-hanger and helo-deck facilities was commissioned in 2001. But no helicopter was included in BN for facilitating flying from BNS Bangabandhu so far.
In 2009, the present government took initiative for inclusion of two maritime helicopters and two ships BNS Bijoy and BNS Dhaleshwari with helo-deck facilities. Inclusion of these 2 helicopters will open a new dimension for the Navy. It may be mentioned that, Naval Aviation is an integral part of any developed Navy.
AW109E is a twin engine, four rotor blades equipped multipurpose helicopter. These two helicopters are capable of flying for around 4 hours and more than 730 kilometres. It is one of the most modern helicopters of Bangladesh Armed Forces.
Officers and sailors have already been trained from Italy for operating and maintaining the helicopters. It is expected that prime minister Sheikh Hasina will commission Naval Aviation Wing by the end of this year. These two helicopters will ensure round the clock and multi-dimension presence of the Bangladesh Navy in the Bay of Bengal.
source:NewAge
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