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Qabil Ashirov

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Having a strong army and military equipment, Azerbaijan is constantly updating its arsenal, adhering to the principle of continuous development. The Patriotic War, in fact, focused on the needs of the Azerbaijani army, revealing which weapons should be left behind and which new weapons should be equipped. Azerbaijan meets these requirements precisely and in accordance with the goal it has set, and remaining true to its words, Azerbaijan has enriched its military arsenal, increased the number of military units, and established Commando Forces since the end of the Second Karabakh War pursuant to the order of President Ilham Aliyev.

In this regard, the words of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev, who visited one of the commando military units of the Ministry of Defense on June 23, was of great importance.

According to the President, as the geopolitical situation in the world is becoming increasingly strained, there are new threats in the region and revengeful forces are rising in Armenia again. The President emphasized that strengthening Azerbaijani Army remains the number one priority and announced the purchase of new UAVs and long-range missiles.

“…the task of further strengthening our Army remains the number one priority. Of course, comprehensive measures are being taken to achieve this. After the Patriotic War, the process of purchasing new weapons has continued, many contracts have already been signed – for new unmanned aerial vehicles and long-range missiles for our country – the missiles that have great destructive power and high precision,” President Ilham Aliyev said as he viewed the conditions created at one of the commando military units of the Ministry of Defense, and presented the battle flag to the military unit.

As is known, Azerbaijan has strong UAV forces which demonstrated its strength in the 44-day War. The list of UAVs and UCAVs varies from Guzgun which can be carried by a single soldier to Harop owning a 1,000 km range. Azerbaijan also has UCAVs, i.e., Bayraktar TB2 owning a 300 km range. However, some internet sources claim that Azerbaijan purchased Bayraktar Akinci, having 5.5+ tons of maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of which 1350+ kg is composed of payload, and a 7,000 km range. It is worth noting that Azerbaijan has not confirmed obtaining Bayraktar Akinci.

As for rocket-artillery forces, the longest-range missiles which Azerbaijan owns are Belarus-made Polonez and Israel-made Lora. The range of Polonez comprises 300 km and Lora 400 km.

Speaking to Azernews on the above issues, the military expert Ramil Mammadli said that after the Second Karabakh War, the changing processes in the region and the world gave impetus to strengthen the issue of supplying the Azerbaijani army with new weapons and equipment.

"As the President mentioned the regional process and challenges have revealed such a situation regarding military capabilities that the potential of Azerbaijan's armed forces requires the strengthening of the arsenal of rocket-artillery troops, as well as ground military equipment, which is important for the operations of the ground troops. If we pay attention to the south, Iran is constantly strengthening its defense and military capabilities. Currently, Iran already has tactical missile complexes that can hit a target at a distance of 2000 km. Needless to talk about Russia at length. This country has ballistic intercontinental missile complexes. Turkiye also implements a number of projects in this field. In addition, a number of countries around the world are already busy strengthening their missile systems,” the pundit said.

He said that, from this point of view, Azerbaijan also needs to increase the number of missile systems and other modern technologies in the arsenal of the army. He emphasized Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also focused on these issues in his statement on the steps taken in the direction of strengthening the arsenal of the army: "I think that Azerbaijan will increase the list of tactical missile complexes. At present, Azerbaijan's existing missile complexes in this direction are Lora and Polonaise missile complexes, which fully satisfied our needs in the war with Armenia. However, as the scale of threats has increased, there is a need for more powerful weapons and equipment," he noted.

The military expert also touched on the prospects of Azerbaijan's purchase of long-range rockets. He noted that Azerbaijan can cooperate with the West and China for this as well as launching a big project of its own.

"It is impossible to give a concrete opinion. I think that currently the complexes that the Turkish defense industry wants to create are weapons that Azerbaijan can buy in this sense. However, there are not so many domestically produced tactical missile systems in Turkiye itself. Some are still in the testing phase. Roketsan has projects in this field, but they are not long-range, but medium-range and tactical. In this regard, in order to achieve more effective missiles, Azerbaijan can cooperate with the West or with China and Russia in this field. However, I do not think that Russia will agree to the production and construction of medium and long-range missiles in Azerbaijan. But local potential can also be mobilized. I can't give any concrete opinion about it yet."

Ramil Mammadli also emphasized the importance of serious development of the Azerbaijan Army in the field of UAVs.

"We also need to increase the list and number of UAVs so that we can implement a number of important projects in this direction. Today, in the arsenal of the Azerbaijani army, there are various stationary UAVs, which are both observation and reconnaissance, strike and armed units, and they are able to carry out successful operations for their purpose. But stronger points are needed. I think that in this direction, Azerbaijan will be able to either strengthen the local potential or buy it from foreign countries and bring it to Azerbaijan. In these views of Ilham Aliyev, it is felt that certain agreements have already been reached in this regard.

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Qabil Ashirov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @g_Ashirov

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