It is a logical result of the consistent policy, attention and care of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev, that today the Azerbaijani army  dominates   the enemy"s army in terms of modern weapons, combat equipment, the number of personnel, moral and psychological training , determination  and while our army is among the top 50 armies in the world, the Armenian army is ranked 97th. In our 44-day history of victory, we proved to the enemy that our army has high material and technical equipment and combat capability. 274,500 soldiers serve in our army, and we have 95,000 soldiers in reserve.

On  the basis of the decree dated June 26, 1918, by the decree of the great leader Heydar Aliyev dated May 22, 1998, June 26 Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan started to be celebrated as the day.

Army building is one of the most important areas in the internal policy of every state. Back in 1969, Heydar Aliyev took important steps for the development of this field during the 1st administration, and on June 20, 1971, he organized the specialized military school named after J. Nakhchivanski. The great leader created conditions for Azerbaijani youth to study at the Baku Higher Joint Command and Baku Higher Naval Schools, as well as at other military schools of the USSR. Our officers trained in the military school named after J. Nakhchivanski showed great heroism in both the First and Second Karabakh battles. Heydar Aliyev  came to power in 1993, increased his attention and care to army building as well as all fields. On January 20, 1999, Heydar Aliyev signed a decree on the establishment of the Military Academy in order to further develop the military education system.

The works started by the great leader Heydar Aliyev regarding the construction of the army are successfully continued by our Supreme Commander-in-Chief, a worthy follower of his political course President Ilham Aliyev, who has been leading our country since 2003, paid special attention to the construction of the army. If we pay attention to the comparison with the past few years  in 2003, the cost of Azerbaijan"s military force from the state budget was 115 million manats, it was 2.2 billion manats  in 2010 , it was 3 billion 853.6 million manats 2020. By 2030, military budget expenditures are expected to reach 5 billion manats. Ilham Aliyev  paid great attention to the modernization of material and technical equipment of the armed forces, creation of infrastructure, social protection of military personnel, improvement of housing provision, as well as development of the defense industry. The Ministry of Defense Industry established on December 16, 2005 produces 1,200 different types of weapons for our army, including small arms and ammunition, optical devices, mines, aviation bombs, armored vehicles, reconnaissance patrol vehicles "Orbiter", "Aerostar-BP", They have fully mastered the process of mass production of "Pegasus" and "Zarbe" type unmanned aerial vehicles and other military and civilian equipment. Azerbaijan produces various types of military equipment, armored vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, and firearms at the expense of the military industry that has been formed and dynamically developed in recent years. From this point of view, Azerbaijan is able to significantly supply our army with military-grade products produced in its factories. The Ministry of Defense Industry has so far produced military products worth more than 2 billion manats.

Long live the independent Azerbaijani army!