Bangladesh Army’s Next-Generation Assault Rifle: An Expert Analysis on Modern Infantry Firepower

In the sweltering heat of the Sundarbans or the rugged hills of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, a soldier’s rifle must perform flawlessly. It is this very demand that underpins the Bangladesh Army’s urgent search for a next-generation infantry weapon—one that combines reliability, versatility, and local production capability to meet the evolving challenges of modern warfare. The BD-08: Bangladesh’s Current Standard and Its Limitations For decades, the Bangladesh Army’s standard-issue rifle has been the BD-08, a licensed derivative of China’s Type 81 assault rifle—manufactured domestically at the Bangladesh Ordnance Factories (BOF). Chambered in the venerable 7.62×39mm cartridge, the BD-08 utilises a short-stroke gas piston system with a rotating bolt, offering robust reliability in Bangladesh’s humid and demanding environments. However, the BD-08’s design, while proven shows its age. Weighing approximately 3.9 kilograms and measuring about one metre in length, the rifle features a folding stock variant but lacks integrated rails for mounting