Which countries arm Azerbaijan?

Although Azerbaijan condemns the arms acquisition by Armenia, it continues replenishing its own arsenal through military cooperation with its traditional partners.

Based on the data available in the open sources, the Fact Investigation Platform tried to find out what weapons Azerbaijan acquired after the 44-day war in 2020.

In June 2023, the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev announced that the development of the country’s armed forces is Baku’s priority and that the process of acquiring new weapons continues after the 2020 war. “A number of contracts have already been signed for the supply of both new drones and high-precision long-range missiles,” the president of Azerbaijan said.

And in his address on December 31, 2023, on the occasion of the Day of Solidarity of World Azerbaijanis and the New Year, Aliyev again noted that new weapons and military equipment were acquired, a number of new contracts were signed.

Turkey

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Azerbaijan ordered 109 KGK-83 missiles from Turkey in 2021 and received them in 2022 (the institute noted that the data on the number of missiles and date of the order may not be accurate).

In 2022, Azerbaijan ordered 2 Akıncı combat UAVs (the information on the quantity may not be accurate) from Turkey, which they received in 2023.

Baykar CEO Haluk Bayraktar announced back in 2022 that three countries were interested in purchasing Akıncı UAVs, which were first delivered to the Turkish military in August 2021. According to the company, the first group of Azerbaijani operators completed the drone pilot training in October 2022.

In April 2023, the Baykar company and Azerbaijan signed a memorandum of understanding on the production of unmanned aerial vehicles in Azerbaijan.

Already on February 9, 2024, there was information that Azerbaijan opened a training facility and a hangar for the new Akıncı unmanned aerial vehicles, confirming that the country had purchased the Turkish-made combat system.

Azerbaijan had previously widely used Turkish Bayraktar TB2 UAVs. Akıncı UAVs can carry up to 1500 kg of payload (armament), the flight height is up to 12 km, they can stay in the air for 24 hours.

According to SIPRI, in 2022, Azerbaijan ordered and received 12 Cobra II armored vehicles from Turkey (information on the number may not be accurate). Cobra armored vehicles are designed and manufactured by the Turkish private company Otokar. These armored vehicles are distinguished by a high level of protection against the threat of improvised explosive devices and mines. Their various functions include security and peacekeeping operations and border protection.

Israel

According to local media, Israel continued to supply weapons to Baku in the recent years. An investigation by the Israeli Haaretz newspaper in March of last year revealed that “from 2016 to 2023, 92 flights of cargo planes were carried out by the Azerbaijani Silk Way Airlines to the Ovda airbase located in the south of Israel.” It is considered to be Israel’s only airport for arms supply.

The Times of Israel wrote on October 5, 2023: “On September 19, just a few weeks before the attack by Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani military cargo planes made multiple flights between the airbase in the south of Israel and the nearby airport in Nagorno-Karabakh.”

According to the newspaper, at least 6 flights were made by the Azerbaijani Silk Way Airlines between September 1 and September 17. Two days later, Azerbaijan launched an offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh.

In November 2023, Defense Industry Europe reported that Azerbaijan will purchase additional Barak MX air defense systems from Israel. The price of the deal was estimated at USD 1.2 billion.

Back in September, this source had reported that Azerbaijan intended to buy Barak MX from Israel. It was mentioned that the Barak MX was displayed in Azerbaijan, and this will lead to the conclusion of a deal to acquire this weapon. Although Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the manufacturer of the weapon, had doubts about testing the weapon in Azerbaijan, nevertheless, according to the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan, the testing took place.

According to the SIPRI research institute, Azerbaijan ordered 2 OptSat 500 reconnaissance satellites from Israel in 2023, but there is no information about the delivery yet.

In March 2024, the Azerbaijani media reported that Azerbaijan bought a SkyDew aerostat from Israel. SkyDew’s job is to detect cruise missiles, drones and other advanced aerial threats flying at low altitudes and provide early warning. The aerostat is capable of providing continuous surveillance for several days and is capable of tracking up to 500 targets with a detection range of over 250 km.

Italy

In June 2023, Azerbaijan signed an agreement for the purchase of C-27J Spartan military transport aircraft with the Italian company Leonardo. According to the statement by the company, two C-27J military transport aircraft will be sold to Azerbaijan.

Russian Federation

After the 44-day war, there is no accurate information about arms supply from Russia to Azerbaijan. It can also be explained by the war between Russia and Ukraine. Instead, on the eve of that war, the two countries signed a declaration on cooperation.

On February 22, 2022, a declaration on allied cooperation was signed between the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev. According to the document, the two countries agreed to consider the possibility of providing military assistance to each other. Moscow and Baku agreed to activate efforts towards opening maintenance, repair and modernization centers, as well as launching various joint military products.

Pakistan

According to the report of the Pakistani Air Operation Syndicate published in February 2024, Azerbaijan will purchase modern JF-17C Block III fighter jets from Pakistan. The latter are equipped with radar systems, state-of-the-art weapons and are extremely expensive (USD 1.6 billion). Islamabad sources of Air Operation Syndicate assume that these fighter jets will replace the Russian MiG-29s in Azerbaijan.

Belarus

In September 2022, the deputy head of the military cooperation department of the Belarusian state foreign trade enterprise “Belspetsvneshtechnika” Alexey Polezhaev told the Azerbaijani media that the company supplies almost all the defense equipment it produces to Azerbaijan.

“Within the framework of our cooperation with the Ministries of Defense and Defense Industry, we supply Azerbaijan with fire control and artillery equipment, anti-aircraft defense systems, radio electronic security systems, etc., we also provide military-technical services to Azerbiajan,” Polezhaev said.

On June 13, POLITICO newspaper published an article stating that Belarus secretly sold weapons to Azerbaijan. A cache of more than a dozen leaked letters, diplomatic notes, bills of sale and export passports seen by POLITICO show that Belarus actively aided Azerbaijan’s armed forces between 2018 and 2022, when tensions with Armenia were at their peak. Services offered included upgrading old artillery equipment and providing new equipment used for radio electronic warfare and unmanned aerial vehicle systems.

The documents also include letters from the Belarusian State Arms Export Agency to its own military industrial companies regarding orders for modern artillery from Azerbaijan, as well as correspondence between Belarusian and Azerbaijani government agencies on an agreement to purchase the Groza-С mobile anti-drone system.