Azerbaijan, Turkey and Uzbekistan hold joint drills — Euronews

Azerbaijan, Turkey and Uzbekistan have for the first time held joint military exercises, “Strength of Unity — 2026,” in the Khojavend district of Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region. More than 3,500 service members from the three countries took part in the drills, while a number of other states, including Iran, were represented as observers, Euronews reports.

Drones, artillery and cyber threats

The military practised countering massive drone attacks, cyberattacks, disinformation, border incidents and attempts to seize a vessel. More than 130 unmanned systems, over 70 armored vehicles, more than 90 artillery systems and over 20 aircraft were deployed at the Kyzylkaya training ground.

During the exercises, the use of unmanned systems, artillery, armored vehicles, aviation and electronic warfare assets was combined. The military also trained to breach defensive positions and anti-tank ditches, conduct demining and advance armored vehicles. Separately, they practised detecting and stopping attempts to cross the border using drones, operations against simulated terrorist positions in mountainous terrain, clearing populated areas and setting up checkpoints.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

Scenarios in the Caspian Sea

The exercises also took place at sites in Baku, the Karabakh region, Nakhchivan and the Azerbaijani part of the Caspian Sea. The naval stage involved freeing a vessel and a maritime facility, rescuing hostages and conducting a landing operation to neutralize a simulated terrorist base.

Azerbaijan’s Defense Minister, Colonel General Zakir Hasanov, said that the drills covered land, naval and air operations. Following them, the 13th trilateral meeting of the defense ministers of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia took place in Shusha, dedicated to military cooperation, regional security and trilateral ties.