Bangladesh Approves Purchase of 20 J-10CE Fighters: $2.13 Billion Guaranteed Financing Cleared, First Jets Could Arrive in 2027
Bangladesh's plan to buy Chinese J-10CE fighter jets has moved a step closer. Zahed Ur Rahman, information adviser to the prime minister, confirmed at a recent press conference in Dhaka that the government-to-government (G2G) procurement has received final policy and financial approval, with the prime minister's consent, and that the Ministry of Finance has approved a state guarantee of about 265 billion taka (about $2.13 billion) to finance the project. The first aircraft could arrive in Bangladesh in 2027. The purchase agreement itself, however, has not yet been formally signed.
The seller is the China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation (CATIC). Under the financing terms disclosed by the Bangladeshi side, the roughly $2.13 billion total consists of about $1.96 billion in principal and about $170 million in interest. A first installment of about $391.9 million — a 20 percent advance — is payable up front; after a two-year grace period, the balance will be repaid in six unequal annual installments. According to Bangladeshi media, the package covers not only the 20 aircraft but also logistics support, pilot and ground-crew training, long-term maintenance and the supply of weapons, allowing Dhaka to modernize its air force without an immediate heavy draw on state revenue.
The negotiations have been under way for some time. Bangladesh raised the purchase during a visit to China in March 2025, and in April 2025 it formed an 11-member inter-ministerial committee, headed by the air force chief, to negotiate with the Chinese side. On August 25, 2026, Rahman told a press conference at the Secretariat in Dhaka that a draft agreement had been prepared and sent to the Ministry of Finance and the Armed Forces Division for review. The latest approval means the draft has cleared its policy and financial vetting. The purchase forms part of the Bangladesh Air Force's long-term "Forces Goal 2030" modernization plan: after the fall of the Hasina government in August 2024, the interim administration accelerated the talks, and the government formed after the February 2026 election has kept the same defense policy.
The J-10CE is the export version of the J-10C, a single-engine, single-seat multirole fighter fitted with an active electronically scanned array radar and able to fire the PL-15 long-range air-to-air missile, at considerably lower procurement and maintenance cost than comparable European jets such as the Rafale or the Eurofighter Typhoon. International interest in the type — including from Bangladesh — rose sharply after Pakistan Air Force J-10Cs drew wide attention during the brief India-Pakistan aerial conflict of May 2025.
The accurate status at this point is approval, not signature. As of publication, Bangladesh's Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) has issued no announcement of a contract signing, and an analysis published by The Business Standard on October 31 noted that the purchase remains at the draft stage, with the final price unconfirmed and no contract signed. Social-media claims that the Bangladesh Air Force "will receive" 20 J-10CEs run one step ahead of the record: the procurement and its financing have been approved, but the signing is still pending, and a 2027 arrival is an expectation, not an official delivery schedule.
(Source: Information Adviser to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh)
Source: Information Adviser to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：2025年长春航展上静态展示的歼-10C战斗机及配套导弹（资料图）。照片：颐园居，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: A J-10C fighter and its missiles on static display at the 2025 Changchun Air Show (file photo). Photo by 颐园居, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
