The army of Azerbaijan, its composition and tasks

The army of Azerbaijan exists since 1918, when the creation of the Separate Azerbaijan Corps was announced by the ADR government, which became the first democratic state in the Islamic East. However, independence did not last long, and its own armed forces were formed in this country only in 1991, after the second gain of sovereignty.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a sharp aggravation of interethnic conflicts, which in some regions developed into armed clashes. The states that emerged in the post-Soviet space urgently began to acquire their own armies, and Azerbaijan was no exception.

Since 1991, during the Karabakh conflict, the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan began. It was called a contradiction between the desire for self-determination of an autonomous republic populated mainly by Armenians and the desire of the Azerbaijani leadership to preserve the territorial integrity of the country by any means.

The army of Azerbaijan, like the Armenian one, was armed with Soviet tanks, aircraft and artillery pieces. After a long period of acute confrontation, a moment of delicate truce has come, but until the end the conflict can not be considered exhausted. In addition to Armenia, none of the states in the region is a potential opponent of Baku, and therefore the main task, which is currently decided by the Azerbaijani army, is a military confrontation with Yerevan.

Defense doctrine dictates both the strength of the armed forces, and their armament, and the size of the budget. The army of Azerbaijan and Armenia is constantly being compared, and in all quantitative indicators its superiority is observed.

The strength of the personnel is 82,000 men, compared with 35,500 from the probable enemy. Tanks - 340 and 110 respectively. A comparatively small gap in the number of multiple rocket launchers "Grad" 60 against 50, but almost threefold superiority in assault and fighter aircraft.

It should also take into account the number of reservists to be mobilized in the event of war. Since Azerbaijan sees Armenia as a potential enemy, the number of reserve soldiers in two neighboring countries is also subject to calculation. At the same time, their number from the Armenian side is two and a half times less than that of the Azerbaijani side.

Military expenses are also significantly different. According to data for 2011, the Azerbaijani army cost the taxpayers $ 3 billion 200 million, while Armenia spent less than half a billion on defense needs.

The organizational structure of the Azerbaijani army is quite simple and effective, and includes ground forces, combined air force and air defense, national guard and special forces. The types of troops are promptly subordinated to the General Staff of the Armed Forces, administratively administered by the Ministry of Defense and the President, who is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

The Azerbaijani army, according to foreign experts, has a number of organizational flaws, which leads to the fact that its overall combat capability is relatively low. The same can be said about the Armenian armed forces.

However, this situation is partially compensated by the fact that the airspace of Armenia is completely controlled by the air forces of the Russian Federation, which have an air base on its territory.