Azerbaijan to hold major military parade in June
By Aynur Jafarova
A military parade will be held in Azerbaijan on June 26 in connection with the 95th anniversary of the country's armed forces, Deputy Defense Minister Chingiz Mammadov said on Monday.
The parade will feature all types of troops and military machinery of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces.
"In short, the parade will be grand," Mammadov said.
According to the decree of the President of Azerbaijan issued in May 1998, June 26 is celebrated as the Day of the Armed Forces in the country.
The latest military parade took place in 2011 on the central Azadlig square in the capital Baku and was timed to the Day of the Armed Forces and the 20th anniversary of the restoration of Azerbaijan's independence.
The parade was joined by 6,000 soldiers of the armed forces, up to 400 pieces of military machinery and weapon systems, including about 50 units of modernized military combat vehicles, about 60 domestically produced and upgraded weapons, 14 armored personnel carriers, 35 attack helicopters, 22 combat aircraft, eight training aircraft, 28 ships, boats and other equipment.
Defense industry developing
Azerbaijan is bolstering its military power year-on-year, and the military parades being held in the country are evidence of this trend.
The defense capability of the country is also strengthening. Last year as well as the first quarter of 2013 were successful for the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense Industry.
It was reported earlier that the Ministry has created a new post-patrol Gurza machine, equipped with two 7.62 mm caliber weapons, one 12.7 mm caliber machine gun, a new 7.62 x 51mm caliber sniper rifle meeting NATO standards, and a machine gun designed for use in special military operations.
Furthermore, a new reconnaissance vehicle has been produced. This machine is equipped with a 23 mm caliber canon, a 7.62 mm caliber twin machine gun mount, an AQ-17 grenade launcher and other military equipment.
Work has been carried out to improve the 14.5 mm caliber sniper rifle and work is underway on the creation of a 23 mm caliber sniper rifle.
Machine guns, mortar launchers, Zafar-K pistols, AK-74M submachine guns, various types of battle and signal bullets, hand grenades, anti-tank and anti-personnel mines, firearms, and spare parts for armored vehicles are among the goods produced and delivered to the customers.
Azerbaijan will participate and demonstrate 130 goods at the IDEF-2013 international exhibition in Istanbul in May.
Gurza patrol vehicles, 7.62 х 54 millimeter Gurza machine guns, 7.62 х 51 millimeter Yalguzag sniper rifles, 7.62 х 54 millimeter attack machine guns of HP-7.62 type, Aerostar and Orbiter unmanned drones will be exhibited at the exhibition.