Two submarines will be added to the fleet of Bangladesh Navy by this year, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Nizamuddin Ahmed said after a meeting with President Abdul Hamid in Dhaka yesterday.
The navy chief said the construction of submarines has already been completed and they will arrive in Bangladesh by this year.
Ahmed also informed the president that the construction of a frigate is under way.
He invited President Hamid to join the conferment ceremony to BNS Base Issa Khan of Bangladesh Navy in Chittagong on November 8.
The president asked the navy to be more active to protect the country’s marine resources.
Earlier, while commissioning three modern warships in Bangladesh Navy, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said two submarines, the first of their kind, would be inducted into the force this year to turn the navy into a “three-dimensional” force.
Hasina also said ‘a platform’ for the submarines is being built at Narayanganj Shipyard through own technology.
The government of Sheikh Hasina has already undertaken programmes to construct warships in its own management. A plan has also been taken to build warships in the Chittagong dry dock in future.
Sources said maritime helicopters and maritime patrol aircraft were inducted into the Bangladesh Navy during the tenure of the present government, while the work on constructing two corvettes is underway in China for further modernisation of the navy.