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Azerbaijan Buying Coast Guard Vessels From Israel

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  • Azerbaijan Buying Coast Guard Vessels From Israel

    http://www.eurasianet.org/node/69776

    Azerbaijan Buying Coast Guard Vessels From Israel
    by Joshua Kucera
    Sept. 1, 2014

    Azerbaijan is acquiring 12 new coast guard vessels from Israel and is
    discussing the possibility of buying naval corvettes, as well.

    The news emerged after Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev formally
    opened [8] a new shipyard for the coast guard. No mention was made
    publicly of the Israeli provenance of the ships, but online weapons
    enthusiasts [9] and the experts at Jane's [10]examined the photos that
    were released on the president's official site and came to the
    conclusion that these were warships -- six Shaldag Mk V patrol boats
    and six Saar 62 offshore patrol vessels -- that Israel had announced
    it was building for an anonymous customer.

    In addition, posters exhibited at the event suggested that Azerbaijan
    was looking at a more heavily armed Israeli ship, the Saar 72 corvette
    [11].

    Azerbaijan has already made other naval purchases from Israel, notably
    some Gabriel-5 anti-ship missiles [12], which became a source of
    tension [13] between Azerbaijan and Iran: Tehran, fixated on Israel,
    mistrusts Baku's close military ties with its enemy.

    That tension was reignited recently, when Iran claimed to have shot
    down an Israeli drone on its territory, and then blamed [14] a "former
    Soviet state to the North" for launching the drone. The reference was
    unmistakably to Azerbaijan, but curiously Iran's ambassador to
    Azerbaijan then said that claims the drone was launched from
    Azerbaijan were not made by Iranian officials but were Israeli media
    disinformation [15]. Thus far, there seems to be no word from Tehran
    on the news of Israeli boats on the Caspian.


    [1] http://www.eurasianet.org/taxonomy/term/1725
    [2] http://www.eurasianet.org/voices/thebugpit
    [3] http://www.eurasianet.org/taxonomy/term/1727
    [4] http://www.eurasianet.org/taxonomy/term/1711
    [5] http://www.eurasianet.org/taxonomy/term/3182
    [6] http://www.eurasianet.org/sites/default/files/32981.jpg
    [7] http://www.eurasianet.org/sites/default/files/32982.jpg
    [8] http://en.president.az/articles/12412
    [9] http://www.russiadefence.net/t3272-azerbaijan-s-new-military-shipyard#59317
    [10] http://www.janes.com/article/42534/azeri-coastguard-revamps-fleet-with-israeli-help
    [11] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa'ar_72-class_corvette
    [12] http://www.eurasianet.org/node/65258
    [13] http://www.eurasianet.org/node/67456
    [14] http://www.eurasianet.org/node/69731
    [15] http://en.trend.az/azerbaijan/politics/2307061.html




    From: A. Papazian
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