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09.02.2006

Azerbaijan in Pentagon’s strategic transformations

   

Sargis Harutyunyan 

The formation of American security ensuring system

Today the United States is the only power which tries to realize worldwide modeling of security system and is in the process of transforming some security system elements which used to have special significance in the past. The other power centers’ security system is limited.

The general ideas concerning to the issue were already developed at the end of 1980s and in the beginning of 1990s in George Bush’s administration. As the US mass media has it in 1992 a talk was prepared on the instruction of the then US Defense Minister Dick Cheney, according to which, if necessary, Washington must realize preventive military operations, ignoring its allies opinion, to hinder the rise of any alternative power capable to throw down a challenge to the US.

In general outline this state of affairs remained at the period of Bill Clinton’s presidency but was de facto resembled in the documents of George W. Bush administration. In “The US National Security Strategy” (“Bush’s doctrine”) published in September 2002, as Washington’s foreign policy concepts were represented: the preservation the US military capabilities in the level unattainable for the other states, delivering preventive blows and if necessary carrying out unilateral actions. It is evident that all the three points of foreign policy strategy first of all refer to Pentagon. Therefore the US national security in power is enabled the leading role.

From this standpoint 80% increase in the budget of Defense Ministry from $250 reaching up to $470 billion in the 1997-2004 fiscal years was not by chance.

At the end of 2004 was published a document named “Strategic Planning Guidance” by Pentagon’s USJFCOM unit where were characterized the existing and possible threats to the US. According to the authors of the document the most dangerous threats were considered “irregular” threats and were stressed up the necessity to make certain structural and functional transformations in armed forces for fighting them. More precisely the idea of “mobile forces” was developed by the Defense Department, which must have made the American armed forces more flexible transferring the front line military units as close to the possible hotspots of danger as possible.

At present together with work carried out to frame the American national anti-missile defense system, as top-priority security ensuring measures are also considered global transformations in structures under the US Defense Department on land (“mobile forces”), underwater (strengthening the might of fleet and almost continuous work without entering ports) and in the air (acquiring new generation jets-F-22 Raptor, F-35 and other aircrafts).

Azerbaijani beachhead

Although at present Georgia claims to become the American military-political partner number one in South Caucasus, yet in deed Azerbaijan is more important for the US. The American strategists consider Azerbaijan a focal point because of its geographical situation and the resources of energy carriers.

The beginning of the deployment of American “mobile forces” in Azerbaijan must be considered December 2001, when the US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made his first visit to Baku. As a result mainly in American press were periodically organized “leaks” that a part of American military units deployed in Europe may also appear in Azerbaijan. In June 2003 the American “The Wall Street Journal” wrote that 70 thousand US military units deployed in Germany as well as a part of military groups from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and even Great Britain must be redeployed in Africa and Caucasus for controlling the most important oil resources. Particularly were pointed out Nigeria and Azerbaijan (according to this information a 15 thousand military group must be transferred to Azerbaijan mainly through Rumanian and Bulgarian ports).

According to some information after the second visit of the US Defense Secretary to Baku in December 2003, in the first decade of the same month the American military specialists also were in Azerbaijan and were studying the country’s military and civil aerodromes’ technical capacity. Were surveyed the aerodromes in Baku (“Bina”) and Gandzha as well as the military aerodromes situated near inhabited localities of Kurdamir, Nasosni, Gala and Sitalchay.

As Azerbaijani mass media have it according to the regulations for 2005 the American military specialists concentrated their main power in the direction of the aerodrome in Kurdamir, which, according to the same publications, must become the fulcrum of the American air force.

Today, in the framework of the annual financial assistance rendered to Azerbaijan by Washington, American-Azerbaijani military cooperation is mainly concentrated on $135 million “Caspian guards” program, mainly aiming at making control systems in the section of Azerbaijan - Caspian Sea - Central Asia.

In 2005 is was officially known about the deployment of AN/FPS 117 radars in South (Astara region) and North (Khizin region) regions of Azerbaijan which may monitor in the direction of Russia, Caspian Sea and Iran within a radius of 450 kilometers. Besides in the beginning of 2006 it became clear that thanks to the American specialists were modernized two radio-locating stations of Azerbaijani army located in Aghstafa and Lerik.

Conclusions

In all probability the American military presence in Azerbaijan will be asserted step by step from making control system and anti raid defense to locating air force and “mobile forces”.

According to some information till 2015 the US EUCOM intends to fulfill work on forming “Caucasus Net” systems for monitoring on air and water space and informational exchange. The component part of the system will become the working radio-locating stations in the region which will be predominantly directed against Russia and Iran becoming a part of the global system of American national anti-missile defense system as defense front line elements.


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