BAF gets authorisation certificate for independently overhauling fighters

Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) 214 Maintenance, Repairing and Overhauling (MRO) Unit on Tuesday received authorisation certificate from Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) of China as recognition of its successful independent overhauling of fighter aircrafts.

BAF technicians are capable of carrying out overhauling of F-7 series aircrafts independently and first overhauled aircraft by BAF technicians independently was handed over to BAF users on September 3 in 2018, reports BSS.

Considering the success of 214 MRO Unit, China’s OEM has awarded certificate to the unit as an “Authorised Overhauling Unit for F-7 series aircraft”

The certificate was hand over through a ceremony at BAF Base Bangabandhu attended by Prime Minister’s Security Adviser Major General (Retd) Tarique Ahmed Siddique.

BAF chief Air Chief Marshal Masihuzzaman Serniabat, senior BAF officials, and Chinese embassy representatives were also present on the occasion.

 “It (Aircraft overhaul) is a great success for our country…It will not only save our money and time but also ends the hassle of overhauling in other countries,” Siddique said on the occasion.

The Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) chief, on the other hand, called the event a big success of the air force and great achievement of the nation towards attaining the Vision 2041 set by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

 “We can save 30 to 40 per cent money by overhauling aircraft on our own without any foreign technical support. It also saves our time as well,” he said.

The air chief said generally it takes a year for overhauling an aircraft if it is sent abroad “but now it took us only eight months to accomplish the task.”

He thanked the Chinese government for their cooperation in the fields of air security in particular and expected the bilateral ties to be strengthened further in future.

The government launched Bangladesh Aeronautical Centre (BAC) at BAF Base Bangabandhu on November 4, 2011 for enhancing the maintenance capability of BAF.

BAC was set up with the technical assistance of JILIN aircraft Maintenance Company Limited of China and 214 MRO Unit is an integral part of BAC.