Azerbaijan First Country to get Turkish Minesweepers

Turkey’s state-owned ASFAT said on Wednesday it is providing 20 minesweepers to Azerbaijan, its first export customer.

“We export 20 MEMATTs (Mechanical Mine Clearing Equipment), which were produced by ASFAT for the first time in our country with domestic and national means, to meet the needs of the Turkish Armed Forces, to our brotherly country Azerbaijan,” ASFAT tweeted.

First two MEMATTs (Mechanical Mine Clearing Equipment) to clear land mines will be delivered as soon as a contract is signed. The rest will be shipped by mid-2021.

MEMATTs, covered with Armox 500T, the world's toughest guard plate is mine-resistant and can be remotely controlled from a distance of 500m. The equipment can move at a speed of 4kmph descend to a depth of 25cm and clear a 1km-long, 1.7m-wide area of mines within an hour.

Turkey had earlier agreed to supply Baku with combat drones including the deadly Bayraktar TB2, ammunition, missiles and air defense systems, and has proposed to work with Azerbaijan to modernize its own defense systems.