Intially, the Air Force, as part of a tri-service defence force, operated aircraft abandoned in its territory after independence, although most Pakistani aircraft had been destroyed by Indian Aerial attack. Since that time aircraft purchases have been made mainly from China, adopting Pakistan's earlier procurement policy, finding the west's equipment too expensive. More recently Russian equipment has been introduced and ex-USAF Hercules have boosted the transport element.

Its appears that Bangladesh now operates or identifies its forces air wings not as one unified unit, as there are differentiated Air Force and Army wings for wear on uniform. It is not known if there is a Naval air wing with its own insignia.

Current aircraft include Mig-29 Fulcrum fighter/ground attack, Nanchang Fantan, f-6 and Chegdu F7MG/M. Trainers include Mig-29 Fulcrum, Shenyang FT6, Nanchang CJ6 L-39 Albatross, Cessna T-37B and Bell 206B. Transport includes Hercules 130B, Antonov An 26, An32, as well as Mi-17, Bell 212 helicopters. Three Bell 206 JetRangers are used for training.