Padma-class patrol vessel

The Padma-class is a class of five offshore patrol vessels of the Bangladesh Navy. The ships are constructed at the Khulna Shipyard, through a development program overseen and supported by the CSIC.

History
The first-ever warship built in Bangladesh, BNS Padma was built by Khulna Shipyard and was commissioned into the Bangladesh Navy on 24 January 2013 by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. BNS Padma is now operating under the command of Commodore Commanding Khulna [COMKHUL].

The second patrol craft in the class, BNS Surma, was launched on 23 January 2013 and commissioned into the Bangladesh Navy on 29 August 2013. The remaining three ships are expected to delivered by December 2013.

Design
The launch of the first indigenous Bangladeshi warship paved the way for the Bangladesh Navy to soon deploy its own design. Built at the Khulna Shipyard, the design is a Offshore Patrol Vessel equipped with two pair of 20 mm guns and a pair of 37 mm guns and it has a weight of 350 tonnes. The Padma-class ships are 50.4 meters long, 7.5 meters wide, 4.1 meters high and can carry out missions lasting up to seven days at a time. The class has a top speeds of 23 knots.

Ships in the class

 * BNS Padma
 * BNS Surma

Operators

 * Bangladesh Navy

Mission
The ships of the Padma class are being operated under the command of Commodore Commanding Khulna [COMKHUL]. The ship has a primary mission of protecting both the fishing fleets and the oil and gas fields and other Economic Zones. In addition, the ships has limited capability in an anti-submarine role.In future, it is expected that rest of the ships are going to be equipped with SSM.