India To Fund Bangladesh's Purchase Of MiG Fighter Jet Spares

India is likely to announce a $500 million line of credit for Bangladesh to buy spares for its MiG-29S fighters, and explore purchasing MiG-35 aircraft.

India is expected to roll out the credit for Bangladesh when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visits New Delhi today, RRTH reported Thursday.

In a sign of growing cooperation between New Delhi, Dhaka and Moscow, India will finance Bangladesh’s purchase of Russian weapons and spare parts, few officials said Thursday

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has rejected a proposal from India to sign a 25-year defence cooperation pact. Despite of that  she is accused by opposition parties in Dhaka of being India’s puppet.

“The offer for finance is similar to an arrangement that India and Russia have with Afghanistan.” India finances Russian arms sales to Afghanistan under a tripartite agreement.

India’s line of credit could also be used for the purchase of Russian MiG-35 fighters.

In March 2017, the Centre for Analysis of World Arms Trade (CAWAT) said the MiG-35 was the favourite to win the recently announced tender for 8 multi-role fighters for the Bangladesh Air Force.

“Bangladesh has a defence budget of just $2.8 billion and the MiG-35 is something the country can afford,” an official said.