COMMENT
China is putting India's two nuclear submarines (INS Arihant and INS Chakra II) at Fleet Base East, Vishakhapatnam, Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean, under regular surveillance and kinetic threat of sinking. Chinese SSNs and SSKs frequenting the Bay of Bengal provide platforms for this surveillance, but the long China to Bay of Bengal (and return) missions are exhausting for Chinese crews. The missions are also well observed, through Malacca Strait/Andaman Sea sensors and Chinese submarine and submarine tender port stops in nearby Sri Lanka.
So the two Bangladeshi Mings, partly manned (and likely part officered) by Chinese crews offer more regular, more covert, surveillance opportunities. China sold the Mings to Bangladesh at the heavily discounted $100 million each, partly because of this bi-nation crewing value to China.
YOUTUBE REPORTS
On March 12, 2017 Bangladeshi Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, officially commissioned the 2 refurbished Chinese built Type 035G (NATO designation "Ming") class submarines, BNS Nabajatra and BNS Joyjatra.
Youtube 1.
This November 2016, 7 minute, Youtube here in English is an excellent analytical discussion of Why did Bangladesh Buy from China? Journalist/Editor, Bharat Bhushan interviews the Indian ex-High Commissioner to Dhaka/Bangladesh, Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Youtube 2.
The following Youtube I think is mainly spoken in Bengaliwith a long stretch. 6:10 to 7:40. in English.
50 seconds obvious update modification to the bow sonar
1:23 good shot of the 2 Mings out of the water on a lift ship
2:00 Bangladesh initially interested in buying Songs($250 million per Song) and S20s but couldn’t
afford even the Chinese discount prices
2:25 the last two Mings China built have AIP [probably used as testbeds for the Yuan’s Stirling
AIP]
2:30 Bangladesh paid $203 million Total for the 2 Mings
3:10 Bangladesh’s confrontations with Myanmar/Burma around 2008 finally convinced
Bangladesh to buy subs. There were also, yet unproven, suspicions Myanmar might buy subs
3:40 Bangladesh needs assistance from many Chinese crew for operation of the 2 Mings
5:00 the 2 Mings may just be the first of a larger Bangladeshi submarine service
6:10 to 7:40 gives Specifications, especially for weapons and propulsion in English
7:18 admission the Ming’s quite old Yu-1 torpedos were “reverse engineered” by China from
Russian Type 53-51 torpedos
Please connect with Submarine Matters' China selling two Type 035 Ming-class submarines to Bangladesh of December 24, 2013.
Pete