Armenia, Azerbaijan spent $27 bn on defense in 10 years: Bloomberg

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia and Azerbaijan spent almost $27 billion on defense in 2005-2015, Bloomberg said in a report prepared with Chatham House, as the two neighboring countries are beefing up their arsenals just seven months after the worst fighting in two decades in Nagorno Karabakh.

Azerbaijan on April 2 unleashed an overt offensive against Karabakh, with hundreds of soldiers and civilians dying on both sides. The parties reached an agreement on the cessation of hostilities on April 5.

Armenia has acquired Russian-made Iskander ballistic missiles, while Azerbaijan says it’s tested combat drones produced with Israel and is in talks with Pakistan to buy high-tech weapons.

April’s clashes featured the first known use of “kamikaze drones” by Azerbaijan, with the explosive-tipped aircraft slamming into a bus carrying Armenian volunteers. Media including Radio Free Europe claimed to have identified the weapons as Israeli-made Harop drones.