Bangladesh is preparing a deal for 20 Chinese fighter jets
A draft for J-10CEs is ready. Dhaka's adviser cited Pakistan's jets against Rafales.
Bangladesh has prepared a draft agreement to buy 20 Chinese J-10CE fighter jets, Information and Broadcasting Adviser Zahed Ur Rahman said at a briefing on Tuesday.
The Business Standard, citing an Armed Forces Division report, put the package at $2.302 billion, or about Tk 28,314 crore. The base price is $62.7 million a jet. Training, logistics, insurance, VAT and construction push the all-in cost close to $115 million each. Ten of the 20 would go into the air force's active table. The other ten would sit outside it.
The deal would run through China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation, on a government-to-government track. Finance would have to fund it in lumps over ten years, through 2035-36. The agreement is expected in the current 2026-27 fiscal year if the money is there. It is not signed.
Zahed also said a Chinese J-10 shot down an Indian Rafale during the India-Pakistan fighting. "This information is now established," he said. He argued Chinese fighters of similar quality are cheaper than European ones. Pakistan already flies the J-10CE. Bangladesh would be the second export customer.
The process started under Muhammad Yunus's interim government in 2025, and was discussed during Yunus's March 2025 China visit. An 11-member committee chaired by the air force chief has been negotiating since April 2025. Finance had earlier cleared about $2.20 billion. The air force asked for the extra money on 4 August.
This is one of Dhaka's biggest defence buys, and it would sit on India's eastern border with a Chinese jet that Pakistan already uses.
Zahed's Rafale claim is a political talking point, not a finding India has accepted. The draft still needs a budget and a signature.
Watch whether Finance clears the extra spend this fiscal year, and whether Beijing and Dhaka actually sign.