Baku/26.04.23/Turan: Azerbaijan reported last week that it had lost its sole observation satellite. Israel Aerospace Industries has been chosen to supply Azerbaijan with two satellites for $120 million, Haaretz has learned.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, who visited Baku last week, confirmed in an interview with Times of Israel that Azerbaijan “chose an Israeli company in a satellite procurement deal.
Azerbaijan operates two communications and one observation satellite. Last week its national space agency, Azercosmos, reported that it had lost contact with the observation satellite a year before it was due to complete its mission. Azercosmos attributed the problem to the satellite being damaged by space debris or a meteorite. Attempts by the agency and the satellite’s manufacturer, Airbus, to restore communications failed.
The space agency also said that it had launched a project for “a new, higher-resolution observation satellite project, which responds to the challenges of modern technological development in accordance with the wishes of local institutions.” This may be the background to the satellite deal being worked out with IAI.
Israel enjoys warm relations with Azerbaijan, and has, over the years, sold Baku advanced military technology worth billions of dollars. A recent Haaretz investigation revealed dozens of cargo flights from Baku to an Israeli airstrip near Eilat, used for export of explosives.
Based on extensive media reports and official statements and videos, Israel has exported a wide range of military equipment – from the Tavor rifle to its most sophisticated technology, including radar, air defense systems, anti-tank and ballistic missiles, ships and a variety of drones – both for intelligence and attack purposes.
Israeli companies have also supplied advanced spy tech, such as communications monitoring systems from Verint and the Pegasus spyware from the NSO Group – tools that were used against journalists, the LGBT community and human rights activists in Azerbaijan, too. -0-
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