combat aircraft

T

HIS YEAR IS a time for

celebration in Azerbaijan —

2018 marks the centenaries

of both the Azerbaijan

Democratic Republic and the

country’s air force. The nation

has had its fair share of struggles; for

example, in April 1920 it came under

the control of the USSR, a situation that

continued until independence was

regained during 1991.

Azerbaijan’s military was re-

established on October 9, 1992, and

today it maintains a small, but potent,

air force. It has two primary operational

stations — Tagiyev, located north-west

of the capital Baku, near the town of

Sumqayit, and Kala Air Base, also close

to the capital. Kurdamir Air Base is used

largely for crew training.

The main  ghter base is Tagiyev,

otherwise known as Nasosnaya),

a former Russian installation now

undergoing some much-needed

modernization. It houses the country’s

sole squadron of MiG-29 ‘Fulcrums’, a

garishly painted mixed  eet of single-

seat C-models and two-seat UB trainers,

which have been in service since 2007.

Before receiving MiG-29s Azerbaijan’s

primary  ghter unit  ew a mixture of

MiG-25PD/PU/RB ‘Foxbats’, which were

withdrawn from use in 2006, and Sukhoi

Su-24 ‘Fencers’, axed four years later. The

base housed a specialist MiG-25 repair

factory, which maintained aircraft from

Iraq, Libya and Algeria well into the last

decade. Nowadays only MiG-29s are

tended to at the plant.

Tagiyev has recently undergone

an extensive upgrade to both its

headquarters facilities and runway.

With support from the US, new runway

lighting and instrument landing systems

have been welcome additions.

MiG boys

‘The MiG-29 squadron has no

speci c designation or name within

our air force; we are just known

as the ‘Fulcrum’ unit,’ says base

commander Col Zaur Rustamov.

‘We have had the MiG-29s in

service since 2007 when they were

procured from Ukraine and were

overhauled before delivery.’ Around

17 are believed to be in service: 15

MiG-29Cs and a pair of UBs, with 26

pilots available to  y them. Out of that

This image:

Azerbaijan

operates around

17 MiG-29s that

were delivered

from Ukraine in

2007.

Inset: MiG-29 unit

commander Lt Col

Ibrahim Haziyev

discussing fl ight

operations with

some of his pilots.

82 October 2018 //^ http://www.combataircraft.net