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  • Azerbaijan Pursues Drones, New Security Options

    Independent European Daily Express
    Oct 4 2014


    Azerbaijan Pursues Drones, New Security Options

    Saturday, October 4, 2014 - 08:03Inter Press Service

    BAKU, Oct 04 (IPS) - Heightened tensions with longtime foe Armenia
    over breakaway Nagorno Karabakh and mediator Russia EURO (tm)s Ukrainian
    adventure appear to be pushing Caspian-Sea energy power Azerbaijan
    ever more strongly toward a military strategy of self-reliance.

    The strategy comes via two approaches: first, a build-up in
    Azerbaijani-made military equipment, including drones co-produced with
    Israel; and, second, a new defense troika with longtime strategic
    partners Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation,
    and neighbouring Georgia, a NATO-member-hopeful.

    Nor is this a strategy just left to paper. On Sep. 11, Azerbaijani
    Defense Minister Yaver Jamalov announced to reporters that Azerbaijan
    plans to export 100 drones, co-produced at a local Azerbaijani-Israeli
    plant, to EURO oeone of the NATO countries. EURO The remarks headlined the
    country EURO (tm)s first international defense-industry show, ADEX-2014, held
    on Sep. 11-13 in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku.

    Jamalov did not specify the country or the terms of the sale, but the
    prospect of the deal reinforces the fact, long clear in foreign
    policy, that Baku sees itself as a regional military force that need
    no longer pay heed to the likes or dislikes of Russia.

    While Azerbaijan has spent EURO oeseveral billion dollars EURO over the last
    decade importing a range of Russian-made military equipment, politics
    now have become an issue, commented military expert Azad Isazade, a
    former Azerbaijani defense-ministry official.

    As it looks on the plans for a trade union with Azerbaijani enemy
    Armenia, Baku increasingly feels that Moscow EURO (tm)s interests in
    resolving the 26-year-long Karabakh conflict are more closely aligned
    with those of Armenia, where Russia already has troops stationed.

    By focusing its attention on its own military-production capabilities
    or on military partnerships with other countries, EURO oethe Azerbaijani
    government wanted to balance the pro-Armenian position of Moscow, EURO
    Isazade said.

    Elhan Shahinoglu, head of the non-profit Atlas Research Center in
    Baku, agreed. EURO oeI think that after the last meeting of the
    Azerbaijani, Armenian and Russian presidents in Sochi [in August],
    [Azerbaijani President] Ilham Aliyev has lost any hope that Moscow is
    going to play a positive role in the Karabakh conflict EURO (tm)s
    resolution, EURO he commented.

    The Kremlin EURO (tm)s support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine
    and intervention in the conflict there does little to reassure Baku on
    this point.

    Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has not specifically addressed such
    misgivings, but, in his opening remarks at ADEX-2014, commented that
    EURO oein the current world, countries have to keep facing new security
    challenges, which make cooperation and the exchange of modern military
    technologies more important. EURO

    Azerbaijan is due to receive 100 Russian-made T-90C tanks in early
    2015, but the shipment is based on a 2010 contract, Trend news agency
    reported, citing an adviser to Russia EURO (tm)s state-owned weapons-export
    company, Rosobornexport. Azerbaijan has not announced any more such
    contracts.

    Defense Minister Jamalov claims that Azerbaijan expects by the end of
    2015 to be able to meet almost all of its own needs for ammunition and
    tank and artillery shells, formerly mostly supplied by Russia, Belarus
    and Ukraine.

    Israel, which imports most of its natural gas from Azerbaijan, appears
    to play a leading role in Azerbaijan EURO (tm)s makeover into a
    materiel-manufacturer. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon visited
    Azerbaijan for the first time this month to meet President Aliyev and
    attend ADEX-2014.

    At the exhibition, Azerbaijan presented models of two drones produced
    in conjunction with an unnamed Israeli company EURO " one for
    reconnaissance ( EURO oeAerostar EURO ) and one for combat-missions (
    EURO oeOrbiter 2M EURO ).

    Overall, 200 companies from 34 countries, including the United States
    and Russia, took part in the event, which featured products ranging
    from armored troop carriers to sniper guns.

    Only one contract with an Azerbaijani company was signed during the
    show, however, an Azerbaijani defense-industry representative
    commented to EurasiaNet.org.

    South Africa EURO (tm)s Paramount Group, a privately owned defense company
    which claims to be the largest in Africa, plans to create a joint
    venture with Azerbaijan EURO (tm)s private AirTechService to work on upgrades
    to military helicopters and some jets.

    The defense industry representative, who asked not to be named, noted,
    however, that other countries expected to take an interest in
    Azerbaijani materiel include Arab Persian-Gulf states, and, in Central
    Asia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

    NATO member states Estonia, Bulgaria, Lativa, Lithuania, Poland and
    Romania, all of which have indicated they will increase defense
    spending in response to the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, also feature
    among the sales-targets, the representative said.

    But weapons manufacturing alone does not provide Azerbaijan with a
    sense of security.

    Like other former Soviet republics, Azerbaijan, with one eye on the
    Karabakh flare-up and another on the Ukrainian civil war, is trying to
    find new ways to protect itself from Russian pressure, noted
    Shahinoglu.

    On Aug. 19, Defense Minister Hasanov met with Georgian Defense
    Minister Irakli Alasania and Turkish Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz in
    the exclave of Nakhchivan, President Aliyev EURO (tm)s ancestral home, to
    address the EURO oemilitary-political situation in the region, EURO as the
    government-friendly AzerNews put it.

    After the meeting, Georgian Defense Minister Alasania, the most
    publicly talkative of the three, said the trio plans to defend
    collectively regional pipelines and railroads EURO " strategic projects
    in which all three already cooperate EURO " in case of military
    aggression in any of the three countries.

    Joint military exercises also will be held, although the 30,000-troop
    exercises currently underway in Azerbaijan only include Azerbaijani
    forces.

    While one Russian security analyst has questioned the pact EURO (tm)s
    significance since Turkey and Azerbaijan already are military allies,
    defense expert Isazade countered that Turkey EURO (tm)s presence will
    constrain Moscow in its treatment of Georgia and Azerbaijan, and
    reassure the international community that energy resources will be
    protected.

    EURO oeIf there would be just an alliance of Baku and Tbilisi, Moscow
    would not care, EURO he elaborated. EURO oeBut Turkey, which is a NATO
    member and also has wide links and cooperation with Russia, is an
    important factor of stability for the region. EURO

    So far, no official response has come from Moscow.

    http://www.iede.co.uk/news/2014_5382/azerbaijan-pursues-drones-new-security-options

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