Defence Industry of Azerbaijan: from Soviet-made to “Made in Azerbaijan” Successes of two-decade hard work

Post-Soviet countries have long been remembered to have inherited the defence capabilities from the dissolved empire. During seventy years of the Soviet Union’s reign, they have been inseparably integrated into the collective programs and projects, including in land, air, and naval forces.

The period after the dissolution of the world’s largest country in 1991 challenged the newly created republics in multiple sectors, with the defence industry being no exception. For instance, obsolete Soviet-era military hardware and weapons got the lion’s share in the militaries of many of them since it was not a walk in the park to redesign the national defence industry in line with modern trends.

For Azerbaijan, it took fourteen years to break the ground for building national defence capability. The new era began in 2005 with the establishment of the Ministry of Defence Industry which trumpeted the transformation of the country into an arms producer.

The ministry has been acting as a locomotive of the national defence industry since its inception. The first task was defining and addressing the basic needs of the national defence. Arguably, the task encompassed the replacement of Soviet-era weapons, ammunition, and equipment with modern versions.

It took just four years for the Ministry of Defence Industry to take the stage at an international defence exhibition in 2009. Back then, 27 “Made in Azerbaijan” labelled products were put on display.

Five years later, Azerbaijan played a host to the first-ever international defence exhibition – ADEX 2014. The jamboree at the Expo Centre in the capital Baku’s suburbs was attended by defence companies from 34 countries.

The exhibition demonstrated the latest achievements of the participants in six thematic areas: weapons and equipment of the ground troops and naval forces, aviation and aviation weapons, air defence systems and means, special purpose vehicles and property, information technologies, communication systems and means, as well as administrative and technical support of the militaries and space technologies.

Over 900 items of Azerbaijan-made military products, including sniper rifles, artillery shells, air bombs, armoured personnel carriers, Multiple-Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS), and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) were showcased at ADEX-2014.

In 2019, Azerbaijan recorded a 5.6 per cent year-over-year increase in military production as the country's overall defence output stood at $153.9 million compared to $145.8 million in 2018, according to government data published by Interfax Azerbaijan. In the same year, the development work at the factories of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defence Industry covered 112 topics of key significance for pressing the national defence capability ahead.

The defence industry of Azerbaijan reached new heights in 2020 when the local enterprises churned out more than 2,000 types of defence products. At the IDEX-2021 and the ADEX-2022 international defence exhibitions, the Defense Industry Ministry put on display various weapons and devices of local production, including a 12.7 mm heavy machine gun and “Yırtıcı” (Predator) semi-automatic sniper rifle, 30-mm AT30 automatic cannon, “flying” mortar drone, remote weapon stabilization system, defensive complex, four new reconnaissance and strike drones, as well as GFAB-250 LG aircraft bomb, which was developed jointly with the Turkish leading defence manufacturer ASELSAN.

The all-new machine gun is designed to destroy manpower and light enemy fortifications at a distance of 2,000 to 3,000 meters, while the 7.62x54-mm sniper rifle is capable of hitting targets at least one kilometre away. The 30-mm AT-30 automatic cannon is designed to hit lightly armoured enemy targets and anti-tank missile systems located at distances up to 1500 meters, manpower and armoured vehicles from long distances, as well as air targets flying at a speed less than the speed of sound up to 2000 meters in the sky and fire weapons deployed behind light shelters.

Meanwhile, the 250-kilogram high-explosive fragmentation bomb GFAB-250 LG can destroy military equipment, structures, military industry and energy facilities, vehicles, aircraft at airfields, warehouses, bridges, manpower and other targets thanks to its top-notch accurate guidance system.

Azerbaijan also manufactures the Gurza armoured patrol car and Tufan mine-resistant ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicle, the TR-107 and TRB-107 ground-to-ground missiles and the “Zarba”, “Itigovan”,” “Guzghun”, “Girghi”, “Simurg”, and “Gartal” combat and attack UAVs. In collaboration with the South African defence manufacturer “Paramount Group”, the enterprises in Azerbaijan produces also the “Marauder” and “Matador” armoured vehicles.

Currently, the Defence Industry Ministry of Azerbaijan owns a robust production network that includes 23 different manufacturing units stationed across Azerbaijan, such as “IGLIM”, “ARAZ”, “AZON”, “DALGA”, and “ALOV.”

Along with satisfying domestic needs, a certain portion of the “Made in Azerbaijan” branded weapons, including various types of ammunition, modern rifle and artillery weapons, armoured vehicles, and special-purpose patrol vehicles, are exported to foreign markets. Azerbaijan has exporting weapons to foreign countries since 2013, including the NATO member states such as the US and Türkiye, as well as Russia, Belarus, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and others.

National defence products in the 44-day war

Domestically manufactured weapons of Azerbaijan have been widely deployed by the country’s forces during the 44-day war with Armenia in 2020. The “Zarba” and “Itigovan” drones destroyed dozens of military equipment of the Armenian army throughout the war. The Azerbaijani army used the Istiglal and Mubariz anti-materiel rifles, as well, to counter the attacks and breach the defence of the Armenian forces. “Marauder”, “Matador”, and “Tufan” armoured cars were key in facilitating the safe relocation of the personnel in between the battlefields.

“Azerbaijan’s drones owned the battlefield in Nagorno-Karabakh [Karabakh] — and showed future of warfare,” the Washington Post wrote shortly after the end of the Armenia-Azerbaijan war in November.

The 44-day war in the Karabakh region ended in Azerbaijan’s victory after the country’s forces liberated over 300 settlements, including five major cities in the region from Armenia's nearly 30-year-long illegal occupation. Armenia returned three more districts to Azerbaijan in non-combat conditions by December 1, 2020 as part of the tripartite ceasefire statement signed between these two countries and Russia on November 9.