Bangladesh Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman visited the precise location within Lalmonirhat airbase on October 16 to personally apprise himself of the progress in construction work on a massive hangar which will likely be used for parking fighter aircraft.
Northeast News’ exclusive photographs of the under-construction hangar, which is coming up close to a perimeter fencing on the western periphery of the Bangladesh Air Force-controlled and managed airbase, alongside which runs an asphalt road, conclusively prove what had been apprehended earlier: the sprawling airbase – or a portion of it – could be the site for a facility for parking fighter aircraft that the BAF seeks to acquire with the objective of replacing its aging fleet of J-7 planes.
The precise location of the under-construction hangar is at Haribhanga village under Mahendranagar union of Lalmonirhat.
It is less than 20 kms from the Bangladesh-India border with Cooch Behar district in West Bengal adjoining Lalmonirhat which is in Bangladesh’s Rangpur Division.
The airbase is spread over 1,166 acre and the runway is 4-km-long.
Originally built in 1931, the Second World War-vintage airbase remained abandoned for years, though it was used by the Pakistani forces during the 1971 war.
It is close to India’s strategic ‘Chicken’s Neck’ in Siliguri.
Even as a senior officer of Bangladesh Army’s Directorate of Military Operations, Brigadier Mohammad Nazim-ud-Daula (now a Major General), had declared in May 2025 that the Lalmonirhat airbase was being “revived to support national needs, including the Aviation and Aerospace University”, he went on to add that he had “no information about Chinese involvement” and that “no foreign entity will be allowed to operate it in a way that harms our security or national interest”.
Gen Zaman’s visit to the Lalmonirhat and Thakurgaon airbases, at a time when an Indian Army Military Intelligence team of officers was still in Bangladesh, assumes significance in the light of information that the BAF had neared closing a deal to acquire at least 20 Chinese-made J-10CE fighter aircraft for about $2.2 billion.
The BAF is also interested in acquiring 16 Chinese JF-17 Block III to bolster is air capabilities, though these are expected to be stationed at its airbase in Cox’s Bazar.
It is not known who the seller – Pakistan or China – would be. The JF-17 is a multi-role combat aircraft developed jointly by the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) and China’s Chengdu Aircraft Corporation (CAC).
Northeast News’ investigation into the hangar construction at Lalmonirhat airbase indicates that the structure is large enough to park at least 10-12 fighter aircraft.
This is the only structure that is coming up within the premises of the airbase with work on the roof still underway three days after Gen Zaman’s visit.
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Reports from ground zero suggest that work on the hangar has been going on for the past six months. The next structure that is expected to come up is a concrete boundary wall.
In fact, a newly laid perimetre wall has already come up to safeguard the Thakurgaon airbase which is spread over about 550 acres and has an unused 1-km-long runway.
The distance between Lalmonirhat and Thakurgaon is about 135 kms.
While Indian media reports in May this year reflected fears that China was behind the revival of Lalmonirhat airbase, there is nothing to indicate that this critical facility (the hangar) is being constructed at the behest of Beijing.
However, there are concerns that the acquisition of the air assets from Pakistan and China might be parked at this hangar or similar facilities elsewhere.
