Dual-Purpose COTS Drones: Transforming Bangladesh’s Military and Border Operations

Reading Time: 4 minutes Since 2020, the Bangladesh Armed Forces and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) have increasingly relied on commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) drones to enhance intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. These dual-purpose systems provide a flexible and cost-effective solution, bridging the gap between traditional military operations and civilian law enforcement, and enabling rapid responses to a wide spectrum of security challenges. The Emergence of COTS Drones in Bangladesh COTS drones, particularly platforms from DJI, have become a cornerstone of Bangladesh’s modernisation initiatives. Unlike bespoke military UAVs, these commercially available systems are widely accessible, require minimal specialised infrastructure, and can be deployed rapidly. Their dual-purpose functionality allows them to serve both military operations, including tactical reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, and operational mapping, and border security missions, such as monitoring illegal crossings and combating trafficking networks. The adoption of these drones has allowed the Armed Forces and BGB to achieve high