Boosting defense budget, Azerbaijan prepares for new adventures

PanARMENIAN.Net - Between 2004 and 2011, just in seven years, the military budget of that country has grown almost by at least 18 times. (from 174 million USD in 2004 to more than 3,2 billion USD in 2011). And it almost doubled from 2010 to 2011. If it was 10% of its GDP this year, in 2011 it will be around 20%.

Besides, Azeri Ministry of Defense Industry and Turkish ROKETSAN signed a contract on joint production of 107 and 122mm rockets. Under the contract, some components of the rockets will be supplied from Turkey, while production will be established in Azerbaijan. The rockets, developed and produced by ROKETSAN have special aerodynamic design and engine, working on low-fume composite hard fuel. The 107mm caliber rocket of the increasing distance, compared to the classical rocket of the same caliber, have the damaging range by 50% higher (11 kg). ROKETSAN-developed and produced 122-caliber rockets have 100% higher range compared to classical 122 mm caliber rockets. These rockets, which have two different warheads, have the capacity to damage the target at the distance up to 40 kilometers.

Azerbaijan’s armament race aggravates the situation at the contact line between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed forces. The number of ceasefire violations tends to increase.

On November 7, during a special ceremony organized on this occasion President Ilham Aliyev reiterated his claim that Azerbaijan is ready to use military force for conflict resolution. He proclaimed as a national hero an Azerbaijani soldier, who killed five and wounded three Armenians during a subversive attack on the line of contact, stating that “there are tens of thousands of such heroes … waiting for the order of the Supreme Commander”.

The threats did not remain unanswered this time. “Instead of threatening war, Azerbaijan had better control the situation at the frontline, otherwise subversives would have not made attempts to penetrate into the Armenian territory. Moreover, it’s extremely strange when the Azerbaijani leaders present the subversives as heroes,” Armenian Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan stated.

“Nevertheless, Armenian armed forces will continue coercing Azerbaijan into peace,” he concluded.