Defense minister inaugurates new military unit
By Aynur Karimova
Azerbaijan has inaugurated a new military unit of the Armed Forces. The inauguration ceremony which took part on October 13 was attended by Defense Minister, Colonel-General Zakir Hasanov.
Addressing the event Hasanov provided an insight into the work done as a result of attention of Azerbaijani President and Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev to army building towards strengthening of combat and spiritual-psychological readiness, as well as improving servicemen's living conditions and cementing the material-technical base.
He also said that the construction of 10 new military camps at military units will be completed by the end of the year.
Today, the Azerbaijani Army is one of the strongest, most highly-disciplined armies in the world and the leading in the region. It is equipped with new high-quality weapons made by domestic and foreign military-industrial systems.
The development of the military is under special focus in Azerbaijan, a country, whose twenty percent of internationally-recognized territory has been under Armenian occupation for over 20 years. Azerbaijan remains in a state of war with Armenia.
The Azerbaijani armed forces, which is today considered the most modern army in the Caucasus, consists of the Air Force, Air Defense Forces, the Navy, and the Land Forces.
The armed forces are continually modernized, reconstructed, and equipped with newest and strongest weaponry as the revenue of Azerbaijan increases.
Azerbaijan's military expenditure has developed rapidly in recent years, and in a short time, the military budget has increased more than 20 times.
Azerbaijan’s military budget for 2015 is $5 billion, which is considerably more than the last year's $3.8 billion in military expenditures. The country's military budget exceeds the overall state budget of occupant Armenia by $2 billion.
While increasing military expenses, Azerbaijan also purchased new weapons and ammunition from countries of close cooperation in the military-technical field.
Azerbaijan purchases military equipment mostly from Turkey, Israel, Russia, the U.S. etc. The country buys tanks from Russia as a part of agreements signed in 2011 and 2012.
The Azerbaijani army is supplied with modern weapons and technical equipment for maintaining a high level of combat capability. The army now possesses 120 mm portable mortars 2S12 "SANI", 220 mm heavy flamethrower systems ТОS-1А, 152 mm self-propelled howitzers "Msta-S", and 120 mm self-propelled artillery weapon 2S31 "Vena", while one military unit is completely equipped with BMP-3 type military vehicles.
Azerbaijan also supports the domestic production of the weaponry and military equipment. The country established its national military industry to avoid dependence on equipment from foreign countries. Hundreds of military equipment items are manufactured by the enterprises of the Defense Industry Ministry, which was established in 2005.
Domestic production includes the Istiglal sniper rifle, Mubariz rifle, Orbiter-2M unmanned intelligence drones, Gurza armored patrol car, "Matador" and "Marauder" armored vehicles, anti-tank mines etc.
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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova
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