Azerbaijani army ranks 59th in world

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijan was ranked the 59th among 132 countries in the 2017 Military Strength Ranking compiled by a U.S.-based Global Firepower survey center.

The final ranking, released on June 29, relies on more than 50 factors to determine each nation’s PowerIndex score. The ranking is based on such items as the weapon diversity, geographical factors, logistics flexibility, natural resources and local industry of every listed country.

The ranking provides data on the number of personnel of national armies, number of weapons, tanks, helicopters, aircraft, naval vehicles and other military data of various countries’ armies.

Azerbaijan left behind many CIS and regional countries, including Georgia, Armenia, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, as well as other countries such as Portugal, Hungary, Belgium, Croatia to take its place among the first 59 strongest armies of the world.

The army of the U.S. topped the list followed by Russia and China, sharing the top three positions in the ranking. They are followed by India, France, United Kingdom, Japan, Turkey, Germany, and Italy to be the world’s top ten strongest military nations.

The Azerbaijani Army, which today is considered the most modern army in the Caucasus, consists of Air Force and Air Defense Forces, the Navy, and the Land Forces.

The skills and combat readiness of the Azerbaijani army are growing year by year, as the country’s Armed Forces regularly conduct military exercises. The Azerbaijani army is supplied with modern weapons and technical equipment for maintaining a high level of combat capability.

The army building process is of particular importance for Azerbaijan, as twenty percent of the country's territory is under Armenian occupation and the country is in a state of war with Armenia.