British Experts about Armies of Armenia and Azerbaijan

The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, IISS has prepared an annual report The Military Balance 2013, dedicated to the military and defense capabilities in more than 160 countries. The report of the British experts, in particular, contains information on the military capabilities of Armenia and Azerbaijan, according Mediarupor.

The report also says that the two countries have devoted significant resources to finance the military sphere. If Armenia spends on these purposes about $ 400 million a year, the military expenditures of Azerbaijan are estimated at $ 1 billion 770 million. Moreover, compared with 2011 in 2012, this amount increased by $ 90 million.

In general, the document says that Azerbaijan spends about 2.5% of its GDP on military aims, and Armenia spends 4%.

The report also assessed the level of combat readiness of the two armies. In this comparison, according to experts of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, wins Armenia. "Armenian Armed quite qualified and are clearly set their objectives and goals. Parallel to this, in the Armed Forces of Armenia has been steadily growing number of professional soldiers serving on a contract basis, although the call for military service remains.

Analyzing the most urgent problems of the Armenian armed forces, the analysts concluded that the most vulnerable in their composition are the Air Force. "The main problem of the Air Forces of Armenia is their service and their overall effectiveness. Therefore, the protection of the airspace of Armenia is Russia via leased air base," writes the report.

The experts also touched reforms in the Armenian army. In their view, the main purpose of the reform is to increase the proportion of contract, as well as improving the quality of arms procurement. "This attempt to more serious structural changes, aimed in particular at improving exercise and professionalism of personnel, faced with a fairly deep problems.

At the same time, notes the IISS, despite significant resources allocated to Armenia renovation and modernization of available weapons, the Armenian armed forces is far from the saturation level of the latest technology. This, in particular is due to the phenomena of corruption and inefficiency of financial management in the Ministry of Defense of Armenia.

   As for the situation at the contact line of the Armed forces of Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh, the report noted that in 2012, at least twice (spring and summer), there was a sharp increase in tension in the conflict zone. -0 –