Azernews.Az

BAKU – Azerbaijan’s military is by far more powerful than the armed forces of Armenia, a neighboring country with which it faces a long-standing conflict, a British-based think tank has said in a report.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies made the conclusion in its Military Balance 2011 report, which compared the structure, personnel, military machinery and paramilitary units of the two countries’ armed forces.

The report said that Azerbaijan’s military expenditure exceeded that of Armenia eight fold in 2011, amounting to $3.2 billion, compared to $405 million in the other South Caucasus republic.

In the past three years, Azerbaijan’s defense spending has more than doubled.

In Armenia, last year’s military expenditure increased $33 million in comparison with 2009 to $434 million, but declined in 2011.

According to the report, the Azerbaijani military has 81,940 personnel, including 66,940 active members and 15,000 paramilitaries. Armenia’s personnel makes up 55,733, including 48,570 active members.

Azerbaijan has 56,840 ground troops, 2,200 Navy and 7,900 air force officers. Armenia has 45,393 ground troops and 3,177 people serve in the country’s air force.

There are 300,000 retired military officers in Azerbaijan. The figure is 210,000 in Armenia, the think tank estimates.

The report also said Azerbaijan considerably surpasses Armenia on military machinery. For instance, it has three times more battle tanks – 339 compared to only 110 in Armenia.

Azerbaijan possesses 111 infantry combat vehicles, while Armenia has 104.

The Azerbaijani armed forces also have a major advantage on armored vehicles and artillery units – 357 compared to 136 and 425 compared to 239 in Armenia, respectively.

Also, the number of Azerbaijan’s warplanes is nearly triple that in Armenia – 41 against 16.

On the number of military helicopters, Azerbaijan has a slight advantage - 35 units compared to 31 in Armenia, the report says.

It also noted that Azerbaijan has four Aerostar drones, while Armenia’s military does not have such planes.

Azerbaijan’s paramilitary forces possess 168 infantry combat vehicles, 26 armored combat vehicles, and eight patrol and coast guard boats. Armenia’s paramilitary forces have 98 infantry combat vehicles and 47 armored infantry combat vehicles, the British research group said.

The report also stressed that Russia’s military base in the Armenian town of Gyumri has 3,214 personnel, 74 tanks, 201 combat vehicles, and 84 artillery units.

The report did not cite the number of Armenian troops or the volume of military machinery stationed in the self-proclaimed Nagorno Karabakh republic run by ethnic Armenians in the occupied Azerbaijani territories.

Given that the region’s population is about 140,000, the number of servicemen there, including retired personnel, could not exceed 7,000 to 8,000, as warring nations are usually capable of mobilizing only 5-6 percent of their population. Israel managed to draft over 10 percent of its people, including women, in the Middle East conflict, however, the country had an advanced economy and was a major arms producer, and it was receiving direct assistance from the world community, including the U.S.

The think tank’s report enables a conclusion that Azerbaijan, a country of 9 million with a rapidly expanding economy, could mobilize slightly over 4 pct of its population for military action. Armenia, a country with the population of an estimated 3 million people, which has an underdeveloped economy and faces an exodus of its citizens, could mobilize up to 9 pct, or 265,000 people. This clearly shows that Armenia relies on foreign assistance to continue pursuing a policy aimed at further occupation of neighboring Azerbaijan’s territory.

Azerbaijan and Armenia waged a war in the early 1990s, which claimed some 30,000 lives and displaced about a million Azerbaijanis. Armenia has been occupying over 20 percent of Azerbaijan’s territory since then. A ceasefire accord was signed in 1994, but peace talks have been largely fruitless so far.

The Military Balance is the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ annual assessment of the military capabilities and defense economics of 170 countries worldwide.