Azerbaijan is strengthening its anti-aircraft defense without “economies”. in:

Forbesreferred to Azerbaijan’s anti-aircraft defense capabilities.

In particular, the article of the American military analyst Paul Idon states that against the background of the American-Israeli war against Iran, Azerbaijan is strengthening its air defense system, continuing the large-scale modernization of its armed forces and is not saving anything or making “economies” for this.

In this context, the analyst did not ignore the fact that Baku ordered JF-17 fighter jets from Pakistan, noting that in May 2025, Azerbaijan increased the order from 16 units to 40, according to which the value of the supply contract increased from 1.6 billion dollars to 4.2 billion dollars, which is considered the largest deal in the history of Pakistan.

About a month ago 168.amthe wrote that the JF-17C (Block III) Pakistani-Chinese fighter jets have already added to the arsenal of the Azerbaijani army, and even the aviation units of the Azerbaijani Air Force using them spent training exercises.

From the footage of the training flights published by the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan, it became clear that at least 7 units of JF-17 fighters were acquired. They were stationed at the Nasosnaya (Arabic: Nasosnı aviabazası) military air base, which is located not far from the city of Sumgait.

And in the context of the purchase of these fighters, Azerbaijan is carrying out large-scale construction and infrastructure modernization works. In particular, with different information՝ new hangars were built for the protection and maintenance of modern aircraft, and modern infrastructure was created.

What are the long-term goals of Baku’s purchase of JF-17 fighter jets from Pakistan and to what extent are they related to Armenia, we have detailed in one of our articles. we have touched on:

And the American military analyst Paul Idon in his analysis also spoke about the Chinese long-range HQ-9BE anti-aircraft missile complexes, which Azerbaijan demonstrated for the first time at the military exhibition organized in November 2025.

Later we wrote that Baku’s propaganda machine considered the Chinese anti-aircraft systems used in Iran as “useless”, including the HQ-9BE, which Azerbaijan was proud of during the military parade. However, the American columnist notes that the Chinese HQ-9BE anti-aircraft missile complex purchased by Baku, which, by the way, has been created based on the base of the Russian S-300, the Russian S-300PMU-2 in the arsenal (modernized of what Armenia has is the option) together with the Belarusian “Buk-MB” and Israeli “Barak MX” systems, formed the multi-layered air defense system of the country.

We are still 2-3 years away to write that Azerbaijan will acquire “Barak MX” air defense systems from Israel, the price of the deal at that time, according to various sources, was estimated at about 1.2 billion dollars. And about the testing of “Barak 8” by Azerbaijan? were talking back in 2016.

“Near the end of the 2020 Artsakh war, as reported, one of these missiles intercepted the Russian-made 9K720 Iskander ballistic missile of the Armenian side.”

“In the early 2010s, Baku bought a number of powerful systems from Russia and Israel. In particular, in 2011, within the framework of the deal valued at about 300 million dollars, he purchased from Russia two modern S-300PMU-2 anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as about 200 units of 48H6 missiles.

Around the same time, Baku ordered its first Barak anti-aircraft missile system from Israel, as well as 40 Barak LRAD (up to 70 km) and 40 Barak-ER (up to 150 km) missiles in a 1.6 billion deal.

How? reported Near the end of the war that started in Artsakh in September 2020, the ballistic missile launched by the Armenian side from the Russian operational-tactical missile complex “Iskander” was successfully intercepted with the help of the Israeli “Barak” anti-aircraft missile system. writes American military analyst Paul Idon.

There are still undisclosed episodes related to the use or not of “Iskander” by the Armenian side during the 44-day war. And the fact that Baku prepared for a long time before the 44-day war also in terms of weapons acquisitions is indisputable.

By the way, on time «Bulgarian military»had spread information that Armenia shows special interest in the “Barak 8” anti-aircraft missile complex, which is a joint project of India and Israel and is also known as the LR-SAM or MR-SAM system. It is not known how true this information was.

Let’s go back to the publication in Forbes and add that American military analyst Paul Idon notes that Baku continues to diversify its arms acquisition policy, buying military equipment from Pakistan, China, Israel, Russia, Belarus, etc.

Moreover, he does not rule out that Azerbaijan may acquire Ukrainian anti-drone systems in the future.

It should be noted that months ago the leaders of Azerbaijan and Ukraine discussed the prospects of joint release of defense products.

And Azerbaijan, as a matter of fact, is trying to diversify also in terms of armament modernization. In particular, 168.amthe wrote that Azerbaijan has decided to cooperate also with the Georgian company engaged in the modernization of Su-25 fighters, it is already using the modernized ones through Turkey.

We know that Armenia has also adopted the policy of diversification of armaments, and, perhaps, is trying to combine, for example, the Russian air defense equipment in the arsenal of the RA Armed Forces with those acquired from other countries. It might work. But this is a separate topic for discussion.

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