Azerbaijan to build 60 pilotless spy planes for its army

photo Aeronautics Defense Systems

BAKU, September 19 (RIA Novosti)

Azerbaijan’s armed forces will take delivery of 60 Orbiter and Aerostar unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) by the end of this year, the Azerbaijan Press Agency (APA) said on Monday quoting military sources.

Azerbaijan’s Azad Systems Company, which built the UAVs locally, will also produce attack variants of the drone aircraft, APA said.

Azerbaijan’s Defense Industry Ministry and Israeli Aeronautics UAV manufacturer formed a joint venture in March 2011 to build Israeli-designed UAVs in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan remains locked in a dispute with neighboring Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, over which the two nations fought a bitter war in the early 1990’s.