Azerbaijan has started manufacturing the Israeli drones Aerostar and Orbiter, Flightglobal reports.
Azad Systems, a joint venture of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry and Israeli Aeronautics Defense Systems, is the manufacturer. ADS is cooperating with the Rafael (Israel).
Azerbaijani Defense Minister Yaver Jamalov said that the country is only planning to produce the drones, not use them.
Azerbaijan was earlier purchasing Israeli drones Orbiter and other similar equipment. Azerbaijan approved the state budget for 2011 in October 2010. The military budget was increased to $3.1 billion. The military budget in 2010 was equal to 1.6 billion manats. 1.1 billion manats will be spent on modernization.
