Baku is interested in the latest defense systems and is holding negotiations with Russia on the supply of new weapons, the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
"We are in talks on new purchases. Mainly, we are interested in the most advanced weaponry, new developments. This also applies to helicopters and defense systems - the whole complex. It is a permanent process," RIA Novosti cited him as saying.
"You know the whole story, the figures were announced, the contracts worth around $5 million have been signed, most of them have already been implemented," the Azerbaijani President noted, assessing good prospects for new contracts between Azerbaijan and Russia in this field.
A political analyst, Candidate of Historical Sciences Oleg Kuznetsov, speaking with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that in the framework of the directions, voiced by President Ilham Aliyev, Russia can offer Azerbaijan a lot. "As for the most promising development of our defense industry, we are talking primarily about the armored car technology. Several new types of armored vehicles, which can be used for transportation of personnel, as well as during local fighting, were created in Russia. We also had a brand new generation of reconnaissance and patrol vehicles, which are adapted for use in mountainous terrain," he said.
Russia's modern developments in the field of small arms and air defense should be also interesting for the Azerbaijani army. "In recent years, nobody but Russia has experience in conducting counter-terrorist operations in the mountains. Russia's S-400 and S-500 are superior to the best examples of Israeli weapons: Israel is focusing on the development of the air defense systems of the front line of defense, and protection of such major centers as Baku requires Russia's air defense system," Oleg Kuznetsov pointed out.
As for the helicopters mentioned by Ilham Aliyev, they will allow Azerbaijan to achieve the domination of its Air Force in the mountains. "Azerbaijan created a serious system of pilot training. We can confidently say that by upgrading ground forces and partially completing the modernization of the Navy, Azerbaijan started significant structural changes in the Air Force," the expert stressed.
In the near future, most of the countries will be faced with the need of transition to a new generation of weapon systems. "For example, the majority of countries still use 3-generation tanks, while combat vehicles of the 5th generation wave been created. If the Armenian army's main striking force is the T-68 or T-72, Azerbaijan is armed with T-80 tanks of the 4th generation," Kuznetsov noted.
