A grey-painted C-130J Super Hercules, one of the US Air Force’s most recognisable tactical transport aircraft, rumbled onto the tarmac at Shah Amanat International Airport in Bangladesh’s Chattogram this week.
The aircraft’s arrival was freighted with strategic resonance. It marked the opening of Operation Pacific Angel 25-3 — a four-day exercise bringing together the air forces of Bangladesh, and the United States— and symbolised Washington’s steadily growing footprint in a country that has become a geopolitical hinge in South Asia.
The drills, hosted at the Bangladesh Air Force’s Zahurul Haque base, are described by US officials as humanitarian in nature — designed to enhance disaster-response coordination, interoperability and medical assistance. Yet the scale and symbolism suggest something broader.
Three C-130J transport aircraft, including two from the US Pacific Air Forces, alongside a Bangladesh Air Force Mi-17 helicopter, are taking part. Around 242 personnel — 150 Bangladeshi and 92 American — have been mobilised.
US Chargé d’Affaires Tracy Ann Jacobson inspected the exercise with senior officials from the US Pacific Air Forces and Bangladesh’s top brass, in a display of military camaraderie rarely witnessed in Chattogram.
In July, Bangladesh hosted Tiger Lightning 2025 in Sylhet — a six-day joint drill with the US Army Pacific Command and the Nevada National Guard.
That exercise focused on counter-terrorism, jungle warfare and combat casualty care, bringing Bangladesh’s elite Para Commando Brigade into lockstep with American troops.
Local journalists said yet another joint exercise is being quietly planned in the Chattogram region. US troops have already been sighted, though their mission — training, reconnaissance, or logistical preparation — remains opaque.
For Dhaka, the optics are evident: the United States is embedding itself into the country’s military infrastructure with a frequency unseen in decades.
The military collaboration comes less than a year after Bangladesh’s most tumultuous political transition in recent memory.
In August 2024, mass protests led by students toppled Sheikh Hasina after 15 years in power.
The uprising left more than 600 people dead, and Hasina, 76, fled to India. An interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has since governed the country.
Hasina’s supporters accused Washington of playing a clandestine role in her downfall — charges rejected by US officials, and dismissed by Donald Trump in February as “deep state conspiracy theories.”
Still, speculation persists that Hasina’s alleged refusal to cede St Martin’s Island, a strategically located speck in the Bay of Bengal, soured relations with Washington.
Intrigue deepened last month after the body of a US Special Forces officer was discovered in an upscale Dhaka hotel and swiftly repatriated without an autopsy, fuelling rumours of covert American operations.
Strategists stress that the expansion of US-Bangladesh defence cooperation is tightly woven into the shifting contours of Indo-Pacific security.
Beijing has invested billions in Bangladeshi infrastructure and remains the country’s largest trading partner.
India, historically Dhaka’s closest neighbour, watches Washington’s growing proximity with unease.
“The United States is clearly recalibrating its South Asia strategy, and Bangladesh is becoming a key fulcrum,” said one Dhaka-based defence analyst.
“What is presented as humanitarian cooperation also has unmistakable geostrategic undertones — balancing against China’s encroachment in the Bay of Bengal and beyond.”
For Bangladesh’s interim government, the balance is precarious: closer ties with Washington may bring aid and prestige, but could also strain Beijing, complicate New Delhi, and pull the country into a high-stakes power rivalry, the analyst speaking anonymously warned.
