In a development being viewed with both strategic intrigue and cautious concern, a significant contingent of the United States Army and Air Force personnel has descended upon Bangladesh over the past 24 hours. The troops are arriving to participate in high-level planning for two upcoming bilateral military exercises — Operation Pacific Angel-25 and Tiger Lightning-2025 — at a time when South Asia’s geopolitical chessboard is witnessing rapid shifts.
According to sources in Bangladesh army, American defence personnel, mostly flown in from bases in Qatar, Thailand, and other regional military outposts, are now assembling in Chittagong after initial entry via Dhaka’s Shah Jalal International Airport. These exercises are being organised in collaboration with the Bangladesh Armed Forces Division, which operates directly under the office of Chief Adviser Mohammad Yunus, the head of the interim administration.
The military coordination comes at a particularly sensitive juncture. The proposed "humanitarian corridor" from Bangladesh into Myanmar's conflict-ridden Rakhine State has recently been shelved, pushing Dhaka into the spotlight of international attention. Against this backdrop, the arrival of uniformed American personnel — including senior officers — has raised questions within Bangladesh’s security establishment, which is reportedly viewing the development with a mix of "alarm and awe."
Operation Pacific Angel-25, a longstanding multilateral humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercise spearheaded by the United States Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), will officially commence on June 25. The second initiative, Tiger Lightning-2025, is a bilateral peacekeeping and combat-readiness drill intended to deepen interoperability between the Bangladesh Armed Forces and the United States Pacific Air Forces (PACAF).
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These exercises are widely seen as efforts by Washington to bolster its presence in South Asia, particularly in light of rising Chinese influence in Myanmar, the Bay of Bengal, and across South and Southeast Asia. The dual-pronged engagement also mirrors the growing US-India defence partnership, as evidenced in April this year by Exercise Tiger Triumph, held off the coast of Andhra Pradesh between the Indian and American militaries.
On Saturday, Major Tyler Wistisen and Captain Elijah Armstrong of the US Army landed in Dhaka aboard Qatar Airways flights QR-640 and QR-638, respectively. Another officer, Frank Johnson, arrived via Thai Airways Flight TG-339, while Major Lynnea Kristin Jensen had already landed on Friday via Malaysia Airlines Flight 197. All four are currently lodged at Radisson Blu Dhaka and are scheduled to depart on June 26.
The larger contingent includes nine PACAF officers who arrived in Dhaka on June 20, led by Major Jewelyn De La Cruz, via Thai Airways Flight TG-321. Concurrently, Lieutenant Thomas Kling and two others landed on FlyDubai Flight FZ-501, while Sergeant Richard White and his team took Qatar Airways Flight QR-638.
Additional PACAF personnel, including Sergeant Lencys Yuslier Esteban Nunez and Captain Alexander Wielandt, have all moved to Chittagong’s Radisson Blu Hotel, where final logistical preparations are underway.
The significance of these military movements cannot be overstated. With the Indo-Pacific emerging as the epicentre of 21st-century strategic rivalry, the Bay of Bengal — once peripheral — has now become a fulcrum of power projection. Bangladesh, which shares borders with both India and Myanmar, and enjoys growing economic ties with China, finds itself at the intersection of major power interests.
While Dhaka continues to assert its non-aligned status, the presence of high-ranking US military officers and the intensification of bilateral drills point to deepening military-to-military cooperation, which some analysts believe could rebalance regional influence dynamics — particularly as China expands its infrastructural and naval footprint in the Indian Ocean region.
As Operation Pacific Angel-25 prepares for take-off and Tiger Lightning-2025 is finalised, all eyes are on how these drills — framed as humanitarian and peacekeeping engagements — will play into the larger geopolitical realignments shaping the Indo-Pacific. For the moment, Bangladesh appears to be treading a delicate diplomatic tightrope, trying to balance strategic cooperation with the West while preserving its regional autonomy and avoiding antagonising other major players.
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