Israel offers Azerbaijan reconnaissance drones

A proposal was made ​​during the recent visit of a delegation to Azerbaijan and IAI is associated with the country's need for protection of their objects of oil and gas industry, reports Aviation Explorer citing Flightglobal. The new joint venture Azad Systems Azerbaijani Defense Ministry and the Israeli company Aeronautics Defense Systems began its work in March. Azerbaijani media reported that the plant is a joint venture, located in Baku, will carry out the assembly and release of Israeli UAV Aerostar and Orbiter. "Eastern Europe has become a major market for the sale of Israeli drones and their sales have increased steadily," – said a source close to the industry. In recent years, Israel has become a major supplier for Azerbaijan, Israel earlier in this country supply other model UAVs, artillery systems, and various connected devices. Previously reported that the Azerbaijani parliament approved the draft state budget for 2011, implying an increase in military spending country in 1,6 times. According to the document, the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan in 2011 will receive 2.5 billion manat ($ 3.1 billion). For comparison, in 2010 this figure amounted to 1.6 billion manat. In this case, 1.1 billion manat will be spent on upgrading weapons. Finance Minister Samir Sharifov said that the increase in military spending of the country due to rising tensions in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh – the long-running conflict with Armenia.