On December 17 the Republic President, the Supreme Commander  Ilham Aliyev inaugurated the Experimental-research plant of the Ministry of Defence Industry after its fundamental reconstruction.

President Ilham Aliyev cut a ribbon symbolizing opening of the enterprise and put flowers at Heydar Aliyev’s monument erected in the yard of the plant.

Then he viewed the Heydar Aliyev museum with a photo stand reflecting the Great Leader’s activity and works conducted in the sphere of Army building during his leadership and the attention and care of the republic President of army and defence industrial development.

The Head of State acquainted with the teaching and training rooms of the plant.  Minister Yaver Jamalov reported that on the reguest of the Ministry of Defence Industry a faculty of special engineering & technology was opened at Azerbaijan Technical University in 2012. He also noted that there are 74 students at the faculty which are trained on the subjects of production of weapons and weapon systems, optic devices, pyrotechnics, manufacture of composite and defence products, operation & repair of multi-channel tropospheric communication devices.

The President was widely reported on the operation the Construction Bureau “Klimat” of Baku Aviation production Union which has been active since 1990.  After disintegration of the former Soviet Union it’s activity was limited and the main purpose of reconstruction was to carry out  R&D to manufacture, update and serial production of small arms, including automatic & sniper rifles, machine guns, etc., meeting the requirements of the procedures & programs of special standards.

The Head of State was also reported that after the Defense Industry Ministry was created, the  Construction Bureau also started to work anew; construction of  a unique national sniper rifle “Istiglal” was completed and its serial production have been launched. The trials of “Istiglal-2”, ”Istiglal-4”, “Istiglal-1T”, “Shimshek-9”  and other weapons  are being carried here now.  For the implementation of the President’s tasks on manufacture and adaptation of manufacture of defence products, great attention is paid on the effective operation of the Construction Bureau. This is why the factory was completely reconstructed. New administrative building, modern, high-quality devices, assembly sites for pilot products have been created here. The workshops are equipped with modern machinery: CNC universal 3 & 4-axis milling machines and centers,  laser scrape etc.

President Ilham Aliyev also acquainted with the developed and manufactured at the enterprise optic devices, armored vehicles and small arms. It was reported that the tonnage of the manufactured at the plant special patrol vehicle “Gurza”, made on the base of “Toyota HILOYX 12” is 2.5 t and it is assembled only in Azerbaijan.

The President steered the “Gurza” car.

The President was reported that in 2012 the Ministry of Defence Industry signed contracts for production of 437 names of defence products. The volume of defence products produced and rendered to customers in the current year will be 25 times as higher as in 2007.  The number of products adopted for production reached 700.

The Head of State expressed satisfaction with the conditions created in the factory and gave certain recommendations.