Dhaka/New Delhi: India’s concerns are set to grow with Bangladesh progressing towards closing the deal for the procurement of 20 Chinese J-10 CE multirole fighter jets for $2.3 billion.
Officials in New Delhi have expressed concern over what could be one of Bangladesh’s biggest defence purchases in years, pointing out that the country does not face a threat from any neighbour.
“There are some issues with Myanmar, but those will not lead to war. We really don’t know why Bangladesh is going on for this deal at a time when the country can’t even provide uninterrupted power supply to its citizens. And the “imagined” comments about our Rafale is simply not acceptable,” one of them said.
What has also peeved India is the comments by an aide of Bangladesh prime minister Tarique Rahman regarding the performance of the J-10’s during Operation Sindoor in May 2025.
As for Dhaka, it has said that the new government is aiming to modernise the Bangladesh Air Force.
Under the proposed deal, each jet would effectively cost around $115 million, much higher than the aircraft’s base price of $62.7 million. The extra cost covers training, operational equipment, technical and logistical support, freight, insurance, VAT and construction, as reported by DNA.
The Armed Forces Division of Bangladesh has pegged the total expenditure at Tk 28,314 crore, based on an exchange rate of Tk 123 per dollar, according to Dhaka-based The Business Standard,
On August 25, Tarique Rahman’s information and broadcasting adviser Zahed Ur Rahman confirmed the development, saying an inter-ministerial committee had drafted an agreement for negotiations on the procurement.
India has been irked with his comments, linking the purchase to Operation Sindoor and the French-origin Rafale jets.
“It is now established that an Indian Rafale fighter jet was shot down by a Chinese-made J-10 fighter aircraft during the India-Pakistan war,” Zahed Ur Rahman said.
“Rafale is regarded as a modern 4.5-generation fighter,” he said, adding that the “J-10 CE had performed very well against it.”
In the past, India had refuted all claims by Pakistan regarding the shooting down of a Rafale. Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier had also termed as inaccurate the claim that three Indian Rafales had been shot down.
In August 2025, Indian Air Force (IAF) chief Air Chief Marshal A P Singh had said Indian forces had brought down at least five Pakistani fighter jets and one large military aircraft during Operation Sindoor.
The IAF floated a tender in June this year for bridge support for all 36 Rafale fighter jets India had acquired from France. This also contradicts Pakistan’s claims.
China’s J-10 CE is the export model of the J-10 C, a single-engine, single-seat multirole fighter operated by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF). Pakistan is the only confirmed foreign user of the export variant so far, making Bangladesh’s proposed deal potentially important for Beijing’s fighter export goals.
The procurement was initiated under the interim government of Muhammad Yunus in 2025. The initial projection was around $60 million per jet, with the country’s ministry of finance later granting in-principle approval for a $2.2-billion deal for 20 aircraft.
