Azerbaijan unveils the list of military equipment and weapons bought from Israel 0804121.

Azerbaijan has recently purchased military equipment from Israel for an amount of $1.6 billion. Details of this purchase were never mentioned, but now the veil of secrecy is being lifted. Among the items ordered were Gabriel anti-ship missiles. These are 522 kg weapons with a range of 36 kilometers. Azerbaijan will use these to protect its Caspian Sea coast from the growing number of Iranian warships being introduced in the area.

Also obtained were five Heron and five Searcher UAVs. The Israeli Heron TP is a 4.6 ton aircraft that can operate at 14.5 kilometers. The Heron TP has a one ton payload, enabling it to carry sensors that can give a detailed view of what's on the ground, even from that high up.

The endurance of 36 hours makes the Heron TP a competitor for the U.S. MQ-9 Reaper. The Searcher 2 is a half-ton aircraft with an endurance of 20 hours, max altitude of 7,500 meters and can operate up to 300 kilometers from the operator. It can carry a 120 kg payload.

Also part of the deal is a Green Pine radar system, which Israel uses for its missile defense system. Green Pine can detect incoming ballistic missiles up to 500 kilometers away, but can also spot approaching warplanes.

Azerbaijan has told Iran that all these weapons were not intended for making war on Iran, but for settling a territorial dispute with neighboring Armenia. Two years ago all this Iranian hostility, and disputes with neighboring Armenia, led oil rich Azerbaijan to increase its defense budget 87 percent to $3.1 billion. Nearly half the budget was spent to modernize the armed forces. A lot of the cash was quietly spent on improved counter-terrorism capabilities. Israel was providing advisors and special equipment to detect and deal with growing Iranian sponsored Islamic terrorism in Azerbaijan.