By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

The Azerbaijani Army continues large-scale military exercises that started on April 16.

During the next stage of the exercises, the troops fulfilled the tasks on movement from the areas of location to the line of deployment, Azerbaijan’s Defense Ministry reported on April 20.

Artillery, air defense assets, aviation and other forces carried out the tasks according to the terms of the exercises.

A distinctive feature of the actions in these exercises was the organization and conduct of movement of troops in the hours of darkness, which requires additional steps for blackout. In order to accurately and timely fulfill the assigned tasks, the efforts were also focused on the commandant and engineering services as well as on comprehensive provision of troops.

During the exercise, Defense Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov heard the reports of commanders of branch of arms, commanders of formations and relevant officers in charge, on the dynamically changing situation and previously made decisions.

He gave instructions to improve the effectiveness of interoperability and command and control of the troops.

The Ministry’s leadership checked the practical actions of military units on the terrain for the purposes that troops could properly understand and carry out the tasks in situation escalated by the tactical introductory.

The most of the focus was on new methods of tactical actions using the new weapons and military equipment recently passed into service.

The exercises are held to inspect combat readiness of troops in line with the plan approved by Azerbaijan’s President, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev.

About 30,000 servicemen are participating in the drills that will continue until April 21. Also, more than 250 tanks and armored vehicles, up to 200 missiles and artillery systems, multiple launch rocket systems and mortars, and 25 combat aircraft are involved in the drills.

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.