Bangladesh releases RFP for standard light armoured vehicle platform

On November 07, the Bangladesh Directorate General Defence Purchase (DGDP) released a request-for-proposal (RFP) for a standardized light armoured vehicle (LAV) platform for command (Comd), ambulance (AMB) and reconnaissance and surveillance (R&S) roles.

The DGDP’s RFP reads: “It is intimated that, standardization of suitable models of LAV (Comd), LAV (R&S) and LAV (AMB) for Bangladesh Army is under process.”

According to the RFP, the Bangladesh Army is seeking a 4×4 LAV platform that can operate in temperature conditions in-excess of 50 °C. The LAV must have a range of over 500 km, with a travel speed of 80 km/h on normal roads and over 25 km/h off-road. It must also have a power-to-weight ratio of over 20 hp/ton.

In terms of protection, the LAV hull is to have minimum ballistic defensibility of STANAG-4569 Level 2, while in terms of mine protection, STANAG-4560 Level 2a. Likewise, the windshield and window glass are to have STANAG-4569 Level 2 protection as well.

The Bangladesh Army is also interested in equipping the LAV with night vision goggles (NVG) for the driver, commander and gunner, for each of which the Army requires be at least third-generation systems. The LAV platform should also be compatible with a weapon turret.

Finally, the Bangladesh Army outlined its preference for scaling its existing logistics infrastructure of radio communication equipment. In the RFP, it stipulates that the LAV be equipped with very-high-frequency (VHF) radios from DICOM (RF 1350), Rohde & Schwarz (XV 3088), Thales (TRC 9210) and/or Aselsan (VRC 9612). In terms of high-frequency (HF) radios, Barrett (PRC 2090) and Reutech (TR 2400) are preferred.

Notes & Comments:

In regards to the Bangladesh Army RFP, Turkish armoured vehicle vendors could have a strong opportunity in growing their business activities in Bangladesh. The auto-manufacturer Otokar has already seen some success for its Cobra LAV line in Bangladesh, but it is not the largest Turkish vendor engaged with Dhaka.

In July, the Turkish company Delta Defense Savunma Sanayi A.Ş. announced that Bangladesh’s DGDP had awarded contracts to supply 600 modified Dozer-B 4×4 and 6×6 armoured vehicles under the “TURK2”and “TURK3” designations, respectively. Destined for the Bangladesh Police, the first 100 are due for delivery in 2018, with another 150 slotted for 2019. Bangladesh will acquire the vehicles over a five-year period. According to the Turkish defence news publication C4 Defence, the contract is worth $1 billion U.S.

From the standpoint of streamlining logistics and maintenance, it would make sense for the Bangladesh Army to expand upon the TURK/Dozer-B order. However, this specific RFP requires role-specific LAVs (i.e. ambulance, command and reconnaissance and surveillance), which may result in a different platform.