Photo: Azerbaijan Coast Guard’s first Saar 62. Source: President’s Office, Azerbaijan
We have talked about these before, but now we have more details, particularly about how they are equipped.
Janes 360 reports the launching of two new vessels for the Azerbaijan Coast Guard, the first of up to six helo deck equipped, 203 foot, 470 ton, 32 knot Sa’ar 62s based on the Israeli Sa’ar 4.5 missile boat, and a sixth 32.65 m-long, 95-ton Shaldag Mk V.
Photo: Azerbeijan Coastguard’s sixth Shaldag Mk V (Azerbaijan State Border Guard Service)
Both types use the Typhoon gun mount which is basically the same as the Mk38 mod2 used by the Coast Guard, except that, instead of using the 25 mm chain gun, these use a Soviet era 23 mm, with a higher rate of fire. Both use the Toplite Electro-Optic fire control system that is also part of the Mk38 mod2.
Most interesting, they are armed with small missile systems. the larger vessels will have an eight cell launcher for the 25 kM range Spike-NLOS.
TYPHOON MLS NLOS configuration has eight Spike NLOS missile launchers and integrated Toplite stabilized observation and target acquisition system. Photo: RAFAEL via defense-update.com
The smaller vessels have a four tube launcher for the 8 km range Spike-ER.
Azerbaijan’s neighbors on the Caspian Sea are Russia to the North, Iran to the South, and Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan on the other side of the water. They have a small navy in addition to their Coast Guard, but these will constitute a substantial reinforcement. There is appears to be a miniature naval arms race going in the Caspian Sea.
