Page 24 - Small Stans Outlook 2023

5.9 Defence - Turkmenistan

There is recurrent evidence that cash remains tight when it comes to the
state budget, but Berdimuhamedov, like his president-father before him,
is wont to splurge money on military “toys”. In late October, the Turkmen
leader headed west to the Caspian coast to oversee a military readiness
drill involving ground, air and navy forces. Jet fighters, cargo planes and
combat helicopters were involved. A Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone was
apparently used to perform a missile hit on a hypothetical “radar station”
target, located with data from the TurkmenAlem satellite, operated by
Turkmenistan’s National Space Agency.

October saw newly acquired military Chinese, Emirati, Israeli, Italian,
Russian, South Korean and Turkish hardware showcased in a lavish
independence day military parade in Ashgabat. Items shown off
included a corvette, a Cavalon two-seat autogyro and a Titan-DS
armoured personnel carrier, as well as four Embraer EMB-314 Super
Tucano light attack turboprop aircraft and five M-346 twin-engine,
two-seat advanced jet trainers, acquired in an effort at replacing an
ageing fleet of Su-25 aircraft.

24 Small Stans 2023 www.intellinews.com