Securing the Skies, Safeguarding Rights

Bangladesh’s signing of a Letter of Intent (LOI) on 9 December 2025, with Italy’s Leonardo S.p.A. to explore the acquisition of Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets has been widely reported as a milestone in the Bangladesh Air Force’s modernisation. But beyond strategy and regional politics, this decision engages a deeper question: how state capacity supports human dignity. A rights-based reading of this moment allows us to see modernisation not merely as an expression of military ambition, but as part of the architecture through which a state protects its citizens. The Eurofighter Typhoon, one of the world’s most advanced 4.5-generation multirole combat aircraft, with over 680 units ordered globally, is not just an asset of force projection. It symbolises the capacity of a state to safeguard the conditions under which rights can be meaningfully exercised. Bangladesh’s current fighter fleet, comprising around 50 serviceable fighters within an inventory of roughly 200 aircraft, relies heavily on ageing Chinese F-7s and Russian MiG-29s. If finalised, this acquisition would mark Bangladesh’s first major purchase of Western-built fighters, reshape its technical capabilities and align its defence partnerships with stronger governance norms. When a state strengthens its ability to protect sovereignty, prevent airspace violations and respond to emerging threats, it reinforces the environment in which citizens’ rights to life, movement, livelihood and security can be realised.

Understanding this shift requires placing Bangladesh within a rapidly transforming regional security landscape. South Asia and the Bay of Bengal are now defined by technological acceleration and geopolitical friction. India expands its aerospace programmers, China projects power across the Indo-Pacific, Myanmar’s instability spills across borders, and major powers deepen their presence in regional waters. In this context, the concept of human security, now central to human rights discourse, becomes crucial. It insists that freedom from fear and freedom from want are inseparable. Protecting human rights requires more than legal frameworks; it demands a stable geopolitical environment free from coercion, territorial vulnerability and external manipulation. A state with credible air defence reduces the structural anxieties that shape citizens’ daily lives. The Eurofighter Typhoon, operational in countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar, is built for such deterrence and response. For Bangladesh, even a limited fleet would significantly enhance its ability to prevent incursions, protect maritime zones, respond to trafficking routes and monitor disaster-prone regions, all of which directly affect the safety and rights of its people.

Yet modernisation is never only about hardware; it is also about the ethical and institutional frameworks within which security decisions are made. Bangladesh’s defence development under Forces Goal 2030, launched in 2010 to modernise the armed forces, included a 2021 proposal for 16 Western-origin fighters with an estimated allocation of Tk25,200 crore (approximately €2.6b). A rights-centred approach does not question modernisation itself, but emphasises the processes that guide it. Major national decisions must be grounded in transparency, public reasoning and accountability. The shift towards Western-built systems, away from longstanding reliance on Chinese or Russian suppliers, also carries normative significance. The Eurofighter consortium, developed by Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo, operates within regulatory environments shaped by government oversight, parliamentary scrutiny, export controls and compliance standards. Engaging with such systems implicitly encourages improvements within Bangladesh’s own defence institutions, supporting ethical, professional and accountable national security governance.

However, the legitimacy of state action lies in its balancing of obligations. Bangladesh faces profound human challenges: climate-induced displacement, economic pressures, infrastructural vulnerabilities and the urgent need for inclusive social policy. A rights-based approach does not place defence and development in opposition; instead, it demands a clear alignment of national priorities. Citizens have a right to understand the reasoning behind such investments and to see modernisation integrated into a broader framework that protects livelihoods, strengthens disaster response capacity and upholds social dignity. They also have a right to assurance that modernisation will not undermine civic freedoms or concentrate power in unaccountable ways. When defence decisions are communicated openly, debated democratically and executed ethically, they generate public trust, an essential component of rights-respecting governance. Security without rights easily trends towards authoritarianism; rights without security risk fragility. Bangladesh’s task is to ensure these domains reinforce each other.

Ultimately, the significance of Bangladesh’s Eurofighter pursuit lies not only in the aircraft but in the identity it signals. Security choices reflect a nation’s aspirations and its imagined place in the world. By moving towards a platform used by technologically advanced, rights-conscious states, Bangladesh expresses a desire for a future where national strength and civic dignity coexist. The Eurofighter, if acquired, would stand not as a symbol of militarisation but as a metaphor for a country seeking to secure the skies above while expanding freedoms below. The true measure of this decision will not be technical specifications but the ethical framework into which it is integrated. If modernisation strengthens democratic accountability, enhances institutional professionalism, improves disaster response, protects sovereignty and preserves civic dignity, it becomes a human rights achievement, not just a strategic one. Bangladesh thus has the opportunity to imagine a future in which security and human rights are not competing agendas but shared foundations of national progress.

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The writer is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at IUBAT and is currently on study leave, residing in Oslo, Norway