Azerbaijan Military - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Azerbaijan Armed Forces: Land Forces, Air Forces, Navy Forces, State Border Service, Coast Guard

Ministry of Internal Affairs: Internal Troops, local police forces; Special State Protection Service (SSPS): National Guard (2023)

note: the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Security Service (intelligence, counterterrorism) are responsible for internal security; the SSPS is under the president and provides protective services to senior officials, foreign missions, significant state assets, government buildings, etc; the National Guard also serves as a reserve for the Army

Military expenditures

4.5% of GDP (2022 est.)

5% of GDP (2021 est.)

5% of GDP (2020 est.)

3.8% of GDP (2019 est.)

3.6% of GDP (2018 est.)

Military and security service personnel strengths

estimates vary; up to 95,000 active armed forces (85,000 Army; 2,000 Navy; 8,000 Air Force); approximately 15,000 Ministry of Internal Affairs troops (2022)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

Baku has been actively upgrading its equipment for over a decade with purchases from Belarus, Israel, Russia, and Turkey; while most of the military's equipment was once Soviet-era material, it now fields quantities of advanced equipment, including armored vehicles, artillery systems, air defense systems, tanks, and UAVs (2023)

Military service age and obligation

18-25 years of age for compulsory military service for men; 17-35 years of age for voluntary service for men and women; 18 months service for conscripts (2023)

note: most of the military is made up of professional contract soldiers; as of 2018, women made up an estimated 3% of the active duty military

Military - note

since November 2020, Russia has deployed about 2,000 peacekeeping troops to the area in and around Nagorno-Karabakh as part of a cease-fire agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan; fighting erupted between the two countries over the Nagorno-Karabakh region in September of 2020; Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under control of ethnic Armenian forces (the "Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army") backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994; six weeks of fighting resulted in about 6,500 deaths and ended after Armenia ceded swaths of Nagorno-Karabakh territory; tensions remained high in 2022, and both sides have accused the other of provocations since the fighting ended; Armenia has accused Azerbaijani forces of a series of border intrusions and of seizing pockets of territory (2023)

NOTE: The information regarding Azerbaijan on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Azerbaijan 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Azerbaijan 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.