Azernews.Az

By Ayya Lmahamad

The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry top brass visited a military unit of the signal troops on September 8, the Defence Ministry has reported.

As part of the visit, the high-ranking officers inspected transport means, laboratories for the current and medium repairs of communications means, equipment, administrative services premises, and warehouses.

Defence Minister Colonel General Zakir Hasanov was informed about the equipment, purpose, and combat capabilities of command and staff vehicles, installed on the base of various types of wheeled vehicles, recently adopted into the armament to control combat operations.

The minister gave relevant instructions to the command staff on the further improvement of communications in the Azerbaijani army.

Activities to improve the Azerbaijani army's communications systems are underway in line with President Ilham Aliyev's instructions.

During the first half of the year, Azerbaijan increased the volume of its defence and national security expenditures by 73.9 percent year-on-year to AZN 2.5 billion ($1.5bn). Earlier, the Azerbaijani Finance Ministry forecasted the country's defence and security expenses to amount to AZN 4.4 billion ($2.64bn) in 2022.

The Azerbaijani army has around 126,000 active and 300,000 reserve personnel.

Azerbaijan ranked 64th among 138 countries in 2020, according to PowerIndex of Global Fire Power for the potential military strength report, which takes into account over 50 individual factors.

In late June, President Ilham Aliyev said that

The president stressed that Armenia must understand that Azerbaijan will continue to grow.

"Our military strength will increase as well. After the war, relevant instructions were given, new contracts were signed and the process of purchasing new weapons, equipment, and machinery based on modern technologies continue. The structural reforms of our Armed Forces have been approved," he said.

Azerbaijan and Armenia resumed the second war after that latter started firing at Azerbaijani civilians and military positions starting September 27, 2020. The war ended on November 10 with the signing of a trilateral peace deal by the Azerbaijani, Russian and Armenian leaders.

The peace agreement stipulated the return of Azerbaijan's Armenian-occupied Kalbajar, Aghdam and Lachin regions. Before the signing of the deal, the Azerbaijani army had liberated around 300 villages, settlements, city centres, and historic Shusha city. The Azerbaijani army declared a victory against the Armenian troops. The signed agreement obliged Armenia to withdraw its troops from the Azerbaijani lands that it has occupied since the early 1990s.

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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad

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