Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan is significantly increasing arms imports and currently ranks 38th in the world on weaponry purchases, a Sweden-based think-tank has said in an annual report.

Siemon Wezeman, a senior researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), says Azerbaijan doubled its weaponry imports in 2010-2011.

According to Wezeman, Baku is spending heavily on arms mainly due to its long-standing conflict with neighboring Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh.

The researcher said Yerevan, in contrast, lags behind in this respect and ranks 84th in SIPRI`s list.

``If you look at the available and purchased weaponry and their military budget, Armenia looks like a dwarf compared to Azerbaijan,`` Wezeman added.

According to the report, Azerbaijan has been buying military machinery from Israel since 2008. The country imported 10 Israeli Hermes-450 unmanned aerial vehicles in 2008 and two such UAVs in 2011. In 2010, 10 Aerostar UAVs were bought and assembled in Azerbaijan, SIPRI said.

Under a $1.6 billion deal signed with Israel, the South Caucasus republic bought one Barak-8 naval air and missile defense system and 75 Barak-8 missiles, one Green Pine radar, an unspecified number of Gabriel 5 anti-ship missiles, five Heron and five Searcher UAVs, according to the report.

25 Matador and 25 Marauder anti-mine combat vehicles were assembled in 2009-2011 in cooperation with South Africa. In 2011, assembly of 30 Matador and 30 Marauder vehicles was launched, it said.

In accord with a $30 million agreement signed with Turkey, 60 Cobra armored vehicles were purchased in 2010 and 2011. Also, 30 107 mm drum-fire systems were purchased from Turkish missile manufacturer Roketsan.

Azerbaijan bought three Favorit missile systems from Russia in 2010-2011 and 112 missiles for these weapons. In 2010, Azerbaijan signed an agreement with its northern neighbor to acquire 24 Mi-35M and 60 Mi-8MT/Mi-17/Hip-H military helicopters. Four Mi-35 and 23 Mi-8MT/Mi-17/Hip-H helicopters were delivered to the country in 2011, according to SIPRI.

Also, Azerbaijan purchased R-2 anti-tank rockets from Ukraine last year, the report said.