Azerbaijan Azerbaijan Defence Forum

[Iskander]

This is what they cite:

Azerbaijan plans to purchase 48 Gripen E/F fighter jets from Sweden.

Azerbaijan plans to purchase 48 Gripen E/F fighter jets from Sweden as part of a $6.5 billion deal, with the first aircraft scheduled for delivery in 2029. Azerbaijan reported that its recently pur…

www.globaldefensecorp.com

I have no idea what this website is (or I do, you can guess the origin when you read the sentence below), but:

“Azerbaijan reported that its recently purchased JF-17 temu jet persisted KLJ-7A radar and engine failure.“

JF-17 "temu jet"? Really? Not only is it an entirely fabricated claim, but what serious site would use words like that?

Do "aze.media" not possess even a little bit of critical thinking to understand that this is not a serious source?

Besides, even if there were no political obstacles for Azerbaijan to purchase Western fighter jets, why would it be Gripen at all? Fighter jet procurements are as much political as they are technical, and I can’t think of how Sweden would be even a consideration for Azerbaijan. It’s not a particularly friendly country to Azerbaijan to begin with.

Discussions about purchasing JF-17 Thunder fighters from Pakistan began 20 years ago (!). Baku was in no rush, rejecting the purchase of Block 1 and skipping Block 2. Despite purchasing 16 MiG-29s from Ukraine in 2007, abandoning the Pakistani fighters was never even discussed. We carefully and thoroughly considered the matter, and when Block 3 was ready, we chose it.

There were reasons for this.

First, purchasing military aircraft is a military-political step of strategic significance;

2. We are still under US and EU sanctions;

3. Sweden is not a country with which we can establish strategic relations;

4. Having the JF-17 Thunder, purchasing fighters of the same class is an extremely unwise decision;

5. We are part of the KAAN project and are not looking for alternatives.

Yes, the report is probably fake.

 

[Okaber]

Discussions about purchasing JF-17 Thunder fighters from Pakistan began 20 years ago (!). Baku was in no rush, rejecting the purchase of Block 1 and skipping Block 2. Despite purchasing 16 MiG-29s from Ukraine in 2007, abandoning the Pakistani fighters was never even discussed. We carefully and thoroughly considered the matter, and when Block 3 was ready, we chose it.

There were reasons for this.

First, purchasing military aircraft is a military-political step of strategic significance;

2. We are still under US and EU sanctions;

3. Sweden is not a country with which we can establish strategic relations;

4. Having the JF-17 Thunder, purchasing fighters of the same class is an extremely unwise decision;

5. We are part of the KAAN project and are not looking for alternatives.

Yes, the report is probably fake.

Indeed, Azerbaijani pilots did test earlier blocks of JF-17 but did not found them to be an upgrade over Mig-29. That changed with Block III.

Azerbaijan also negotiated with Russia for new fighter jets and airforce commanders even visited Russian aircraft manufacturing plants, with Azerbaijani pilots undergoing training in Russia but as you know Ukraine war happened.

 

[Okaber]

We are still under US and EU sanctions;

It’s up to individual states, there isn’t really EU sanctions as a block. Azerbaijan has bought howitzers and many other things from Czechia and Slovakia (there is also joint defence industry cooperation with Slovakia), transport aircrafts and some other things from Italy, radars from Spain.

UK recently lifted the ban.

NTE 2025/28: removal of UK arms embargo on Armenia and Azerbaijan

www.gov.uk

Minister of defence industry and deputy minister of MOD (head of military-technical department) visited UK last week.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2018380261101092879

Lanza LTR-25 (Spain).

As for US, that’s a bit more complicated. For US to start selling serious hardware to Azerbaijan, the first step would be to remove section 907 completely, which can only happen via congress.