Bangladesh opens drone warfare school near India border

Bangladesh has established a surveillance and drone training school near its international border with India, with authorities saying the facility will strengthen technology-driven border security.

The “Shimanto School of Surveillance and Drone Warfare” at the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) headquarters in Sylhet was inaugurated by Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed on Tuesday.

The facility is located around 55 km from the Indian border and about 115 km south of Meghalaya capital Shillong.

Ahmed said drones equipped with night-vision and thermal technologies would allow round-the-clock surveillance of the forested border and help identify routes used by smugglers, drug traffickers and illegal arms dealers. He said advanced drone technologies from different countries would be incorporated into the programme over the next one to two years.

During the inauguration, BGB personnel demonstrated drone-based surveillance and operational techniques. The force said the school would mark a new milestone in advanced surveillance and modern operational capabilities.

The BGB is responsible for managing Bangladesh’s 4,096.7-km international boundary with India.

India has fenced more than 3,200 km of the border, while around 860 km remains unfenced. This includes more than 170 km where fencing is considered impractical because of riverine terrain.

Illegal infiltration remains a longstanding concern for India, with Indian and Bangladeshi forces having frequent confrontations along unfenced sections over the movement of people across the border. India refers to stopping illegal Bangladeshi migrants at the border and sending them back as “pushbacks”, while Bangladesh describes the practice as “push-ins”.

Meanwhile, efforts to fence the remaining sections have gained momentum. The West Bengal government recently handed over more than 1,000 acres of land for border fencing, following the BJP’s return to power in the state.