Azeri daily calls for more money to modernize army

Zerkalo, Baku
4 Jan 05

The daily Zerkalo has said that despite its increase by 80m dollars,
the Azerbaijani 2005 military budget is still not “militant”. In a
detailed front-paged analysis of the military budget, the daily said
that there are not enough funds to modernize the country’s military
hardware. In an interview with Zerkalo, a former Defence Ministry
official called for increased spending on R and D. The following is
the text of C. Sumarinli and M. Mammadov’s report by the Azerbaijani
newspaper Zerkalo on 4 January headlined “One should not go to war
with such a defence budget” and subheaded “Military expert reckons
that strategy of military spending has to be worked out”; subheadings
are as published:

Milli Maclis [Azerbaijan’s parliament] and the president have recently
endorsed the 2005 state budget which increases the military spending
by 80m dollars compared to 2004. According to the law on budget
published in the press, the total expenditure will add up to around
2bn dollars. Of this, the military spending will account for 12 per
cent, which means 240m dollars or 1,206bn manats. This is the third
biggest item of spending in the budget, after education (1,782bn
manats) and social security (1,5bn manats).

How will the 240m dollars earmarked for the military be allocated?
Before answering this question, let us first have a look at the common
practice of military spending. The state allocates the military
spending between salaries and pensions of the servicemen, spending on
food, uniform, arms and equipment, medical treatment, military
education and so on.

Salaries, pensions

This part of military spending is, by its nature, prone to change. A
number of experts reckon that there will be no increase in salaries of
the servicemen in 2005. However, it must be considered that it is in
2005 when the military expenditure has gone up in such an “anomalous”
way. Starting from 1999, the defence spending has been increasing by
10m dollars each year, but this time it surged by 80m dollars. So, a
sharp increase in funding will make it possible to raise the salaries
of the servicemen. Incidentally, there is talk of an increase in
salaries in the army, although the latest increase took place on 26
June 2004.

Today, a young lieutenant, graduate of a military school, will earn
between 450,000-500,000 manats [around 100 dollars] depending on where
he is serving (on the front line or in the army
rear). Correspondingly, a warrant officer earns between
300,000-500,000 manats [between 60 and 100 dollars]. A senior
lieutenant earns 500,000-800,000 manats [between 100 and 160
dollars]. It is clear that with such salaries young officers will be
unable to resolve many social and family issues.

Only the salaries of senior officers may be considered
satisfactory. Starting from the rank of captain and all the way up to
colonel-general, servicemen earn, including benefits for the rank,
between one and five million manats [between 250 and 1,000
dollars]. The defence minister has the highest-paid job in the armed
forces as he receives around 5,000,000 manats [over 1,000 dollars].

It will be interesting to see how much of the military spending is
“eaten up” by the salaries and pensions of the servicemen? A quarter
of the 80,000-strong Azerbaijani army is comprised of warrant officers
and officers, and the rest of privates and sergeants. If we assume
that warrant officers and officers receive on average nine million
manats or around 1,800 dollars per year, it is clear that the 2005
budget will have to spend 36m dollars on [their] salaries. Privates
and sergeants receive between 20,000 and 60,000 manats [between four
and 12 dollars] per month. Simple calculation shows that around five
million dollars or 24bn manats is needed each year to pay this
category of the servi cemen.

As for the servicemen’s pensions, it must be said that there are
12,000 such people in Azerbaijan and the average pension is some
500,000 manats. Hence, it takes 12m dollars a year to pay the
pensions. So, 53m dollars are spent each year on the salaries and
pensions.

Spending on food and uniform

Food supplies to the army have considerably improved over the past few
years. With the exception of some aspects, the National Army does not
face the problems it had five to six years ago. When compared with the
armed forces of the USA, UK and Russia, it is clear that the ration of
an Azerbaijani warrior is not inferior in any sense. The mainstay of
an Azerbaijani serviceman’s ration is bread (750 grammes), potatoes
and vegetables (900 grammes).

The Defence Ministry’s press service has shown us army ration pack No
1, which said that the servicemen receive daily food that consists of
29 items (one of them is Tseksavit which is a medicine). An American
soldier’s ration pack contains the same amount of items. The table of
components of ration pack No 1 shows that an Azerbaijani servicemen
consumes food worth 6,322 manats a day, or 189,661 manats a month,
which makes 2,276,000 manats a year (some 460 dollars). Thus, the
Azerbaijani army spends on food 27.6m dollars [per year].

Spending on uniform is one the main spending items in the military
budget. According to our preliminary calculations, uniforms costs the
Defence Ministry 8m dollars. This includes both the set of clothes for
the young conscripts and the regular renewal of the uniform of the
professional servicemen. We estimate that a uniform of each serviceman
is worth 600,000 manats.

Where else do money go?

Let us draw a preliminary conclusion from our research. We have learnt
that out of the military budget, 53m dollars is being spent on
salaries and pensions, 27m are being “eaten up” by food and 8m is
being spent on clothes. Overall, these three items costs the budget
88m dollars. To recap, the military budget is 240m dollars.

We should note that such spending accounts for 30 to 35 per cent of
the military budget, which is standard international practice. For the
first time in the past five to six years, Azerbaijan’s overall
spending on salaries, pensions, food and clothes matches the existing
practice of composition of the military budget.

We have touched on only several aspects of the military spending and
did not mention such important aspects as the modernization of
military hardware and weapons, the funding of the military schools,
operations of the military commissariats, health service, housing,
military exercises, foreign visits and postings to name a few.

In the opinion of independent military experts, the 2005 military
budget makes it possible to carry out “leapfrog” reforms of the
army. The weapons and military equipment, meaning transport and small
arms, will be partially renewed. The funds are insufficient for
modernizing the whole stock of military hardware.

As we have found out, the sharp increase in the defence spending has
to do with the rising expenditure on scientific research and
development (acquisition of computers, navigation and observation
devices, and communications hardware). Out of the 2005 budget, 10 to
15 per cent will be allocated to this end.

Hence, we can draw a conclusion that the nature of the defence
spending is peaceful, rather than “militant”. Taking into
consideration the occupation of part of the country, the experts
believe it is necessary to spend money on the defence in a
scientifically balanced way.

Strategy of military spending

Lt-Col (retd) Uzeyir Cafarov, formerly an employee of the Defence
Ministry’s military-research centre, said that the defence budget is
not enough to satisfy Azerbaijan’s military requirements. “If we want
our armed forces to be up to the world standards as soon as possible,
if we intend to set up powerful units capable of winning the future
war, then we must pay more attention to the defence.”

In the expert’s view, scientific research has to be done to form the
Azerbaijani army’s strategy for military spending. In the absence of
the strategy and in the existence of control over the allocation of
the funds, it is impossible to supply and equip the army and resolve
relevant issues.

Cafarov called for specific steps aimed at developing military science
and research, laying the scientific foundation for building the army
and recruiting competent specialists. “For instance, today’s agenda
includes the introduction of the alternative military service in
Azerbaijan. However, there has been no research as to whether this
kind of service would suit Azerbaijan. This fact alone means that more
attention has to be paid to the military research centres,” Cafarov
said.

The expert went on to say that by forming a national
military-industrial complex in Azerbaijan, it would be possible to
make some military budget savings. “Almost half of the weapons and
hardware in the army is obsolescent and has the service life of 20 to
30 years. A complete renewal of the hardware would require tremendous
spending. The way out of the situation is to create a
military-industrial complex as soon as possible,” Cafarov said.

In conclusion, let us report that Azerbaijan possesses the biggest
military budget in the South Caucasus. Armenia (the armed forces
comprise 40,000-50,000 servicemen) will spend 127m dollars on defence
in 2005, and Georgia (18,000-22,000 servicemen) will spend 70m
dollars.