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Kviris Palitra, Georgia
June 25 2012
Which Armaments worth 108M dollars did Tbilisi Sell to Baku?
by Irakli Aladashvili
[Translated from Georgian]
Readers will find it hard to believe that Georgia does not only buy
armaments but also sells them, and at quite a significant price too.
Still, according to Azerbaijani website Defence.az, Georgia used to
supply Azerbaijan with weapons along with Ukraine and Russia.
The Azerbaijani website says that, in 2003-2008, Ukraine and Russia
supplied Azerbaijan with armaments worth 364m dollars and 128m
dollars, respectively, while little Georgia [provided weapons worth]
as much as 108m dollars (!).
Those were the very years before the August [2008 Georgian-Russian]
war when the Georgian Army itself was acquiring large quantities of
weapons and had emissaries travel all over the world to secure
deliveries of armaments.
Is it possible that, at such a time, Tbilisi had any kind of weapons
that it did not need and sold to neighbouring, friendly Azerbaijan?
Azerbaijan and Georgia have unofficially traded weapons since 1992.
For example, during the [1992-1993] war in Abkhazia, [Georgian
paramilitary group] Mkhedrioni bought several rockets of the Uragan
multiple launch rocket system in Azerbaijan (members of Mkhedrioni
offered a peacock in addition to money because an Azerbaijani warlord
was very fond of the bird). However, they were unable to use the
rockets because of technical flaws.
Subsequently, after the Abkhazia war, the [Georgian] military sent
D-20 howitzers to their Azerbaijani counterparts but the weapons were
seized by Igor Giorgadze, who was the [Georgian] minister of security
at the time.
However, those were isolated cases and could not have been described
as serious military and technical cooperation between Georgia and
Azerbaijan.
In the middle of 1990s, Azerbaijan bought several Su-25 attack planes
from Georgia for the first time. They were delivered by Georgian Air
Force Commander Valeri Naqopia, whom the security service briefly
placed under house arrest for this.
The first official document confirming the sale of Su-25 attack planes
to Azerbaijan is a record from the UN Register of Conventional Arms
dated 30 June 2006.
According to this document, the Azerbaijani side officially notified
the relevant UN body that it had purchased six Su-25 attack planes and
one Su-25UB two-seat trainer aircraft from Georgia in 2005. However,
it is clear that no one would have paid the Tbilisi Aviation Plant
108m dollars for seven combat planes (even though the two-seat variant
is more expensive). The price of each plane is unlikely to have been
even 5m dollars.
An analysis of the UN Register of Conventional Arms revealed that
Azerbaijan had also signed a similar deal with the Georgian Government
earlier. A register record dated 21 August 2003 says that Georgia sold
six Su-25 attack planes to Azerbaijan in 2002. However, the price of
13 attack planes would still not have been 108m dollars.
A tragic incident occurred at one of Azerbaijan's military airfields
27 December 2011. An Su-25's jet engine sucked a specialist from the
Tbilisi Aviation Plant into an air intake and, unfortunately, he died.
The fact that Georgian specialists have been sent [to Azerbaijan]
suggests that the Tbilisi Aviation Plant could still be selling the
Su-25 attack planes (or their fuselages) to Azerbaijan and the 108m
dollars figure calculated by the Azerbaijani military experts could
include the price of this deal too.
It is worthy of note that Georgia has not sent arms sales data to the
UN Register of Conventional Arms since the August 2008 war.
In 2009, Azerbaijan bought five Su-25s again but Belarus was the
supplier this time, which was confirmed by a document dated 5 November
2010.
Incidentally, Azerbaijan has the highest number of Su-25 attack planes
in the South Caucasus region today (24-30 units), followed by Armenia
with 15 attack planes (Yerevan bought 10 units of this combat aircraft
from Slovakia in 2004). Georgia is in last place with 12 attack
planes, despite the fact that the Tbilisi Aviation Plant alone has
been producing Su-25 single-seat attack planes since 1979....[ellipsis
as published].
P.S. Azerbaijan has begun buying weapons worth 1.6bn dollars from
Israel. These include Gabriel anti-ship missiles, Barak antiaircraft
missiles, and Heron strategic UAVs. The Georgian-Azerbaijani military
and technical cooperation is nowhere near this scale of relations.
June 25 2012
Which Armaments worth 108M dollars did Tbilisi Sell to Baku?
by Irakli Aladashvili
[Translated from Georgian]
Readers will find it hard to believe that Georgia does not only buy
armaments but also sells them, and at quite a significant price too.
Still, according to Azerbaijani website Defence.az, Georgia used to
supply Azerbaijan with weapons along with Ukraine and Russia.
The Azerbaijani website says that, in 2003-2008, Ukraine and Russia
supplied Azerbaijan with armaments worth 364m dollars and 128m
dollars, respectively, while little Georgia [provided weapons worth]
as much as 108m dollars (!).
Those were the very years before the August [2008 Georgian-Russian]
war when the Georgian Army itself was acquiring large quantities of
weapons and had emissaries travel all over the world to secure
deliveries of armaments.
Is it possible that, at such a time, Tbilisi had any kind of weapons
that it did not need and sold to neighbouring, friendly Azerbaijan?
Azerbaijan and Georgia have unofficially traded weapons since 1992.
For example, during the [1992-1993] war in Abkhazia, [Georgian
paramilitary group] Mkhedrioni bought several rockets of the Uragan
multiple launch rocket system in Azerbaijan (members of Mkhedrioni
offered a peacock in addition to money because an Azerbaijani warlord
was very fond of the bird). However, they were unable to use the
rockets because of technical flaws.
Subsequently, after the Abkhazia war, the [Georgian] military sent
D-20 howitzers to their Azerbaijani counterparts but the weapons were
seized by Igor Giorgadze, who was the [Georgian] minister of security
at the time.
However, those were isolated cases and could not have been described
as serious military and technical cooperation between Georgia and
Azerbaijan.
In the middle of 1990s, Azerbaijan bought several Su-25 attack planes
from Georgia for the first time. They were delivered by Georgian Air
Force Commander Valeri Naqopia, whom the security service briefly
placed under house arrest for this.
The first official document confirming the sale of Su-25 attack planes
to Azerbaijan is a record from the UN Register of Conventional Arms
dated 30 June 2006.
According to this document, the Azerbaijani side officially notified
the relevant UN body that it had purchased six Su-25 attack planes and
one Su-25UB two-seat trainer aircraft from Georgia in 2005. However,
it is clear that no one would have paid the Tbilisi Aviation Plant
108m dollars for seven combat planes (even though the two-seat variant
is more expensive). The price of each plane is unlikely to have been
even 5m dollars.
An analysis of the UN Register of Conventional Arms revealed that
Azerbaijan had also signed a similar deal with the Georgian Government
earlier. A register record dated 21 August 2003 says that Georgia sold
six Su-25 attack planes to Azerbaijan in 2002. However, the price of
13 attack planes would still not have been 108m dollars.
A tragic incident occurred at one of Azerbaijan's military airfields
27 December 2011. An Su-25's jet engine sucked a specialist from the
Tbilisi Aviation Plant into an air intake and, unfortunately, he died.
The fact that Georgian specialists have been sent [to Azerbaijan]
suggests that the Tbilisi Aviation Plant could still be selling the
Su-25 attack planes (or their fuselages) to Azerbaijan and the 108m
dollars figure calculated by the Azerbaijani military experts could
include the price of this deal too.
It is worthy of note that Georgia has not sent arms sales data to the
UN Register of Conventional Arms since the August 2008 war.
In 2009, Azerbaijan bought five Su-25s again but Belarus was the
supplier this time, which was confirmed by a document dated 5 November
2010.
Incidentally, Azerbaijan has the highest number of Su-25 attack planes
in the South Caucasus region today (24-30 units), followed by Armenia
with 15 attack planes (Yerevan bought 10 units of this combat aircraft
from Slovakia in 2004). Georgia is in last place with 12 attack
planes, despite the fact that the Tbilisi Aviation Plant alone has
been producing Su-25 single-seat attack planes since 1979....[ellipsis
as published].
P.S. Azerbaijan has begun buying weapons worth 1.6bn dollars from
Israel. These include Gabriel anti-ship missiles, Barak antiaircraft
missiles, and Heron strategic UAVs. The Georgian-Azerbaijani military
and technical cooperation is nowhere near this scale of relations.