Article Posted on : - Oct 20, 2010

T-72 main battle (MBTs) tanks

HAIFA (BNS): Israel’s Elbit System will upgrade the T-72 main battle (MBTs) tanks of Azerbaijani Army, according to a media report.

Earlier this month, Elbit System has announced an approximately $56 million tank upgrade contract from a customer in Asia.

Under the two year contract, the company will provide Azerbaijan’s T-72s with state-of-the-art battle management systems as well as observation and surveillance systems.

“The project will be implemented with the participation of Elbit Systems Land & C41 – Tadiran and Elbit Systems Electro-optics Elop companies,” President of Elbit Joseph Ackerman said in a company statement.

According to AzerNews, this financial boost doubles the Israel defence budget to a total of 18.9 per cent of the overall state budget in comparison to 2010.

Azerbaijan's finance minister has recently announced that the country will spend $3.287 billion on defence next year, making it one of the priorities in the 2011 state budget, it said.