#Azerbaijan

In  Part 1, we looked at some of the Azerbaijani-made small arms showcased at the ADEX 2022 exhibition in Baku. In Part 2, we’ll look at more unique and lesser known products of the Azerbaijan defense industry – large caliber sniper rifles and machine guns.

The ongoing conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia brought a lot of attention to the military-industrial complex of Azerbaijan. And while many of their heavy weapon systems were procured abroad, when it comes to small arms, Azerbaijan demonstrates a surprising abundance of domestically produced firearms, which were demonstrated at the ADEX 2022 defense exhibition in Baku. That is especially interesting considering the fact that after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan did not inherit any significant firearms manufacturing capability and their entire military industry was built from the ground up in the last 30 years.

The outbreak of hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the 27 September is not completely surprising; both countries have fought several short and brutal campaigns against one another since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

At this year’s 100th Anniversary of the Azeri Army Parade in Baku, Azerbaijan we were able to get a glimpse of some of the recent developments within the Azeri Armed Forces while on parade. In terms of small arms the most significant observation is the recent introduction of what appears to be a Belarussian manufactured AR15 derivative in 7.62x39mm that we reported on earlier this month. It still isn’t clear where the weapon is made, or if Azerbaijan simply purchased it from BSVT. The country does have a significant manufacturing and industrial base that does support small arms manufacture and development so there could be local production occurring. But without any further details, we can only speculate at this point. A user on MilitaryPhotos.Net who appears to have more information claimed that the nomenclature is “AZTEX” (possibly AZTEC?) but again, we just don’t know enough at this stage.

21st Century Asian Arms Race spotted an image shared on the website of the Office of the Azeri President that is showing a rifle of Belarusian origins in a unit armory locker of the Azeri Armed Forces. The rifle in question was previously reported on by TFB in February of this year. Appearing in a display put on by the state-owned Military-Industrial Committee of Belarus was an AR15 chambered in 7.62x39mm, configured to take AKM-patterned magazines (as opposed to STANAG configured ones, also popular for 7.62x39mm AR15 derivatives). Where the rifle is made or imported from is difficult to discern. Originally the design is actually a U.S. one, introduced at SHOT 2017 by a startup called Arsenal Firearms, with the nomenclature as the “Switch”, also offered in 5.45x45mm. The website appears to be down and it doesn’t look like it saw much success in the United States. However at the display of the rifle in Belarus, there was a BSVT flag and placard right next to it. BSVT is an abbreviation for BELSPETSVNESHTECHNIKA, a subsidiary of the aforementioned Military-Industrial Committee of Belarus. The company produces defense items from small arms to missiles.

Recent media shared on a pro-Azeri Armed Forces group called Polygon Azerbaijan has provided details on an anti-material rifle that has been in development by the Azeri Ministry of Defense Industry since at least 2009. In 2009 the Azerbaijan Minister of Defense Industry Yaver Jamalov was quoted as saying his country was going to produce not only a 23x115mm anti-material rifle but also a 30mm version as well by the years of 2010-2011, based on the previous 14.5mm Istiglal anti-material rifle design. However, there doesn’t appear to be a rifle that the government could produce, until 2012 when the same minister mentioned production would begin in 2013. Again, we have another news article this month where the same minister is now saying the production will be in coordination with Turkey on a 23mm rifle. That article hinted at a Turkish entity, Aselsan being involved, which makes sense because Aselsan is already engaged in international production with Kazakstan.

ADEX is the Azerbaijan International Defense Exhibition held in the capitol of Baku, Azerbaijan. The Azeris began work on a 14.5mm and 12.7mm anti-material rifle back in 2008 and having it enter service in 2009. This was the Istigal 14.5 and 12.7mm semi-automatic rifle. I would assume that the Azeris ran into the accuracy problem that so many large caliber semi-automatic rifle manufacturers have encountered. Thus at ADEX 2016, the Azeri Ministry of Defense showcased their new bolt action, magazine fed, 14.5mm NST rifle. It weighs 20 Kg, has an maximum range of 2000 meters, and a maximum effective range of 1600 meters. The scope and muzzle brake are both designed locally in Azerbaijan. The scope looks to be a variable power optic, with an extremely large elevation turret to account for adjustments out to the ranges listed under the specifications.

At the recent IDEF Istanbul exhibition held this past May, Azerbaijan had some interesting developments of various small arms on display. Interestingly there wasn’t any demonstration of their service rifle, the Tavor (similarly, it appears most of the military still has 74s while the Tavor is making its appearance in parades). Regardless, Jane’s has covered the Azerbaijan boot pretty well, and there are some more in depth photos of the small arms on a Pakistani defense forum. Something that really sticks out about all the small arms displayed is that much of the design is completely taken from other designs, such as the shape of the receiver on the anti-material rifle, to the sniper rifles that seem to take direct inspiration from the SCAR H and the AI PSR stock. In addition, either FAB Defense is getting the upper hand, or whomever the designer who copied FAB Defense is getting lucky, as the pistol grip on every single firearm (sans Grenade Launcher) is similar to FAB Defense’s designs, in addition to the buttstock on the light machine gun. From Jane’s-

In a badly translated press release, the Azerbaijan’s Minister of Defense Industry says the country is not abandoning the Azerbaijan Khazri AK…

Azerbaijan is going to replace their AK inventory with locally produced IMI Tavor rifles. This is part of a $1.6 billion arms deal with Israel, which includes the purchase of a fleet of Israeli-manufactured drones.

The Azerbaijan Ministry of Defense Industry have licensed the AK-74M design from Russian AK-maker Izhmash and will be producing it domestically. The rifle will be called the “Khazri Assault Rifle”. It sounds like it will feature accessory rails for lights, lasers and optics.

The Azerbaijani government are now manufacturing a .50 BMG version of their monster semi-automatic 14.5mm IST-14.5 “Istiglal” rifle. The IST-12.7 was on display for the first time at the Africa Aerospace & Defense expo 2010.

The Azerbaijan Ministry of Defence Industry has recently developed a new anti-material sniper rifle called the “Istiglal” IST-14.5. These photos are from the Ministry’s website: