Israeli defence company Meteor Aerospace and Azerbaijan’s Caspian Ship Building Company (CSBC) set up a joint venture that offers advanced defence solutions.

The new company is named Caspian Meteor and is based in Azerbaijan. It is aimed at meeting the ex-Soviet country’s defence needs and developing cooperation between the two countries.

Azerbaijan had been using Israeli-made weapons when fighting ethnic Armenian forces during the conflict over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region last year. Military experts say that drones played an important role in Baku’s military victory.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a leading conflict and armaments think-tank, Israel provided Azerbaijan with some $825 million in weapons between 2006 and 2019.

Caspian Meteor is to develop a wide range of defence systems including fast manned/unmanned naval vessels with a maximum speed of 60 knots, large UAVs with a maximum takeoff weight of 1,400/700 kg, a long-range, electrically-powered unmanned ground vehicle, and precision strike missiles with extended-range loitering and long-range heavy strike capability.