Azerbaijan: Our Armored Vehicles Are Better Than Yours

Ministry of Defense Industry of Azerbaiijan

President Ilham Aliyev admires the fruits of the domestic weapons industry; will an indigenous armored vehicle be next?

Azerbaijan is producing its own armored vehicles, which will be "100 percent locally produced," according to news agency APA. The report gives little information about the vehicle, not even a name, other than to say it will be first produced in reconnaissance and "combat" models.

But it does include an amusing bit of South Caucasus oneupmanship:

These cars will have the advantages over Georgia-based “Didgori” and Armenia-based “Ayk” vehicles for its maneuver possibilities, ballistic protection, sustainability, as well as the other features.

Azerbaijan has already been producing armored vehicles in cooperation with a South African firm. And as we learned from the embarrassing tale of Georgia's "homemade" drone, it's easy to say something is "100 percent local" without that meaning very much. It's more an issue of national pride than anything else.