BBC Monitoring Azerbaijan to display new weapons at army parade By BBC Monitoring Azerbaijan's defence minister has said that a military parade to be held on 26 June will feature new weapons that this country has bought, news reports have said. Zakir Hasanov was speaking at a news conference on 20 June. He said that Baku had acquired helicopters capable of destroying enemy targets without entering the battlefield, haqqin.az said. "Those helicopters are equipped with systems that make it possible to carry out strikes at a distance of 10 to 50 km," Hasanov said. He said the army would demonstrate state-of-the art hardware and weapons at the upcoming military parade. He also said, however, that "we have weapons that we will not demonstrate yet because we have not yet tested those weapons". APA news agency quoted Hasanov as saying that Baku had bought "new types of weapons" for its army. "[Azerbaijan has] bought new tanks, new infantry fighting vehicles and new armoured vehicles that are used in fighting. All this hardware will be demonstrated at the 26 June military parade," Hasanov said. He added: "At present, we have state-of the-art missile and artillery systems. Those missiles are capable of destroying any enemy target. The supreme commander-in-chief [Azerbaijan's president] familiarised himself with those missiles several days ago. All the missiles will be demonstrated at the parade." Azerbaijan may have Iron Drome air defence system Minval.az news website said that the minister hinted that Azerbaijan's army possessed the Israeli-made air defence system Iron Dome. It quoted Hasanov as saying that Baku would demonstrate an anti-missile shield system at the parade. "We possess long-range artillery missile systems. They are capable of using precise targeting to destroy ground and air enemy targets. A shield system will also be demonstrated at the parade. Many say there cannot be this system in Azerbaijan, but you will see at the parade that it can. This is just one part of new weapons purchased," the report quoted the minister as telling the briefing. It added that the minister did not specify what shield system he was talking about. Hasanov also said that the country's president had tasked them with ensuring the army's combat readiness for actual military action. "We will completely achieve our objectives within several years," he said. He explained he was referring to acquisition of new military vehicles and modernisation of military vehicles, and purchase of new artillery systems. He added that the Azerbaijani army was 90 per cent equipped with automated control systems. "A colossal amount of work is being done to this end," he said. In the meantime, Turan news agency cited the minister as telling cadets from a military school that the parade would feature Azerbaijan's anti-missile system. The report said the minister was speaking about long-range artillery missile systems capable of destroying ground and air targets deep in enemy territory, and that he did not provide further detail. Turan pointed out that Azerbaijan had the Russian-made missile air defence systems S-300 Favorit, S-200, BUK M1, and TOR2E, the Israeli-made missile air defence systems Iron Dome, Barak, and Spider, and also several Israeli- and Russian-made radar systems. In June 2018, Azerbaijan has obtained the medium-range missile systems Polonez (Belarus) and Lora (Israel), the report added. Land reclaimed; Armenia losing its own information war Hasanov also spoke about "a very successful" military operation conducted by Azerbaijan in its exclave Naxcivan in May to reclaim land from Armenians. APA quoted him as saying: "As a result of the successful operation by our army, 11,000 ha of land were liberated from the occupation. I want to say that our army is now in control of the road to [the Armenian-held Azerbaijani district of] Lacin. This is our latest success." The minister said that Azerbaijan was also a success in an information warfare that he said Armenia had started against it. "The enemy has unleashed a large-scale information warfare against us. However, they are losing to us even in it," APA quoted Hasanov as saying. Hasanov went on to urge Azerbaijan's media not to yield to Armenian "provocations". "At present, we all must fight the enemy. The Armenian special services are using social networking websites to try to make our soldiers unconfident about their strengths. Media outlets that respect themselves should not yield to those kinds of provocations. I am asking journalists to be careful. Media outlets are a great power. That great power should join the fight against the enemy and defend the country," he said. Hasanov also said that the recent change of government in Armenia was a result of diplomatic efforts by the Azerbaijani president. "We try to defeat the enemy in all possible ways. You have all seen that the supreme commander-in-chief [Azerbaijan's president] put an end to the rule of [former Armenian President and then former Armenian Prime Minister Serzh] Sargsyan without resorting to the power of weapons, using diplomacy alone," he said. The minister added that Azerbaijani army soldiers were provided with best-quality food, which he said was done "to enhance combat readiness". Baku and Yerevan are locked in a conflict over Azerbaijan's Armenian-populated breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven districts around it. Source: BBC Monitoring 21 Jun 18