A Strategic Perspective on Modernising the Bangladesh Army

Reading Time: 3 minutes As a former official in Israeli defence forces, observing military evolutions across the developing world often provides valuable case studies in asymmetry, adaptability, and national will. Bangladesh—strategically located at the crossroads of South and Southeast Asia is a country whose military posture, particularly its land forces, warrants urgent and systematic modernisation. Despite significant growth in GDP, military professionalism, and defence procurement since the 2000s, the Bangladesh Army continues to rely on outdated Soviet-era doctrine, legacy platforms, and limited digitalisation, which collectively limit its operational flexibility and survivability in future multi-domain environments. From an Israeli perspective that is grounded in decades of experience operating under resource constraints and facing near-peer asymmetric threats I believe Bangladesh must shift its modernisation paradigm across five strategic axes: digitisation, mobility, firepower, integration, and indigenous development. 1. Digital Command and Control Must Replace Analogue Thinking Modern warfare is first and foremost digital.