The defense industry plays an important role in the economy of every confident country in the world, including Azerbaijan, whose defense industry is expanding with each passing year.
In 2017 the enterprises of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defense Industry continued work on the production of defense products.
The ministry noted that the volume of defense and special purpose production increased by 10% YoY.
The enterprises of the ministry launched serial production of the new-generation weapons – sniper rifle Yalguzag (Steppenwolf), mortars and grenade launchers of various caliber, smoke grenades for armored vehicles, optical collimating sight, hand grenade F-1, fragmentation mines, etc.
Also, on the basis of the acquired technology the development was completed and serial production was launched of four types of barrels for machine guns, various types of fuses for ammunition of various calibers.
Defense Industry Minister Yavar Jamalov said on January 19 that last year, based on the contracts concluded by order of the Azerbaijani power structures, various defense products were produced and handed over to customers.
The minister stressed that along with fulfilling the orders of the power structures of Azerbaijan, the ministry exported military products to more than ten countries.
In 2017 the volume of exported defense products grew 2.3-fold compared with 2016, noted Jamalov. Along with defense production in 2017, work was continued to expand the civilian production.
The minister added that during 2017 the ministry’s enterprises implemented research and development works on the creation of 136 items of defense products.
In general, the Defense Industry Ministry had made great strides over the past years. The total volume of production at the enterprises of the ministry increased 6.7-fold and the output of defense products increased 42-fold in 2016 compared to 2007. During this period, the total number of items of defense products has grown from 213 to 1,200.
The Azerbaijan-made products include such weapons as mortars of various caliber and their ammunition, 5.45-millimeter machine guns, 7.62-mm general-purpose machine guns, sniper rifles of special purpose, Matador and Marauder armored personnel carriers. Moreover, Azerbaijani military factories produce 30-mm automatic grenade launcher complex, sight for ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft installation, ammo of various calibers, PG-7V grenade launchers, unmanned aerial vehicles, aerial bombs for a training exercise and many other weapons. (AzerNews/Business World Magazine)
