Azerbaijani Navy

The Azerbaijani Navy (Azərbaycan Hərbi Dəniz Qüvvələri) operates exclusively in the Caspian Sea, having inherited a share of the Soviet Caspian Flotilla infrastructure and hulls at Baku in 1992. Personnel strength is on the order of a few thousand, and the service is subordinate to the Ministry of Defence, with a separate Coast Guard falling under the State Border Service.

The surface combatant element is built around Soviet-era hulls. It includes a Petya II-class frigate, Qusar, retained mainly for gunnery and anti-submarine training, along with Osa-II-class missile boats retained without operational missile armament and Project 205P Stenka-class patrol boats, several of which have been refitted with Turkish Aselsan SMASH 30 mm remote weapon stations. Mine countermeasures assets comprise Sonya-class (Project 1265) base minesweepers and Yevgenya-class (Project 1258) inshore minesweepers. Amphibious lift consists of Polnocny-class medium landing ships and Vydra- and T-4-type landing craft. The navy also holds Project 907 Triton-1 and Triton-2 swimmer delivery vehicles, associated with the naval special operations element rather than constituting a conventional submarine arm. Auxiliaries include salvage, diving support and survey craft.

Headquarters and the principal base are at Baku, with the Puta facility on the southern approaches to the Absheron Peninsula serving as the main installation; marine infantry and naval special operations units are based at Zığ. Formations include a surface ship brigade, a patrol ship brigade, a mine warfare unit, the 641st Naval Special Warfare Brigade and marine infantry. Officer training is conducted through the naval faculty of the Azerbaijan Higher Military Academy. Baku Shipyard and the Zığ repair facility provide construction and overhaul capacity.

Primary missions are protection of offshore hydrocarbon infrastructure in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian, including the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli and Shah Deniz complexes and associated subsea pipelines, coastal patrol, mine countermeasures and interdiction of smuggling and trafficking. Operations are confined to the Caspian, as the sea has no outlet permitting transit by warships. Cooperation with the United States under the Caspian Guard Initiative has focused on maritime domain awareness, counterproliferation and boarding operations; Washington has committed to transferring additional patrol craft.

Recapitalisation has drawn on Israeli and Turkish sources. The Coast Guard operates Sa'ar 62-class offshore patrol vessels, designated the Tufan class locally and assembled with Israel Shipyards participation, together with Shaldag Mk V fast patrol boats armed with Spike NLOS and Spike-ER missiles. Israeli-supplied coastal anti-ship systems, including Sea Breaker, support shore-based sea denial. Turkish-supplied Salvo unmanned surface vessels entered service with the navy, and cooperation with the Turkish yard Dearsan has covered patrol vessel construction.