Bangladesh Navy receives two Chinese frigates.

Senior Bangladeshi Navy officials received two Chinese Type-053H3 frigates, Jiaxing (Hull 521) and Lianyungang (Hull 522), in Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard on December 18. The two missile frigates, purchased by the Bangladesh side in 2018, will steam to Bangladesh after the hand-over ceremony.

Type 053H3 Jiangwei-II Jiaxing 521 (Picture source: Bangladesh)

Rear Admiral Bai Yaoping, deputy commander of the navy under the Chinese PLA Eastern Theater Command, and Admiral Aurangzeb Chowdhury, chief of naval staff of the Bangladesh Navy, attended the handover ceremony in Shanghai.

Type 053H3 frigates are the second generation of the PLA Navy’s frigates that equipped with anti-aircraft missile systems. A total of ten Type 053H3 frigates were built by China. At present, the PLA Navy still has eight Type 053H3 frigates in service.

The Bangladesh Navy signed an agreement in June 2018 to import two Type 053H3 frigates from China that would retire. In 2019, the frigates Jiaxing and Lianyungang were both decommissioned from the Chinese Navy and sent for refitting. It is said that the two frigates will be officially renamed as BNS-Omar Farooq and BNS-Abu Ubaidah after joining the Bangladeshi Navy.

According to reports, on November 30 this year, the Bangladesh Ministry of Defense had also announced the purchase of 44 Type VT-5 light tanks produced by China North Industries Corp.