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