Azerbaijan announces military exercises involving missiles and aircrafts

The military exercises will involve 20,000 soldiers and officers, reports the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defence (MoD). The maneuvers will be apparently held in conditions close to combat as possible, experts believe.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 26, new modern weapons were demonstrated at a parade arranged in honour of the Day of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces and held in Baku. President Ilham Aliev noted that "the war was not over."

On July 2-6, large-scale military exercises will be held with involvement of different types of troops, reported the Azerbaijani MoD. It is planned to involve in the exercises up to 120 tanks and other armoured vehicles, over 200 pieces of rocket artillery, and up to 30 aircrafts.

According to military expert Azad Isazade, at present, the main task of the Azerbaijani army is "to liberate the occupied territories."

Meanwhile, the expert emphasizes these are not the largest military exercises in terms of the number of personnel and units of military equipment involved. Earlier, there were military exercises involving 25,000 and 30,000 soldiers and officers.

As of April 2017, the Azerbaijani army enlisted 70,000 soldiers and officers, the "Echo of the Caucasus" reports with reference to the Azerbaijani MoD.

Let us remind you that the recent major military exercises of the Azerbaijani army were held in March, and they involved 25,000 soldiers and officers. Azerbaijani experts called those exercises a demonstration of the strength to the enemy, and experts in Armenia associated them with the anniversary of the "April war" in 2016.