Azerbaijan To Donate MEMATT Mechanical Mine-Clearing Vehicles Procured From Turkey To Ukraine
Recently, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Bohdan Drapyaty, met with an Azerbaijani delegation led by Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Ukraine, Seymour Mardaliev. The Azerbaijani delegation discussed which military supplies will be transferred and new aid being provided to the Ukrainian army during the course of the meeting. In this context, Azerbaijan decided to donate the mechanical mine clearing vehicles (MEMATT) procured from Turkey in order to clear mines in and around the Karabakh region, to Ukraine.
The Azerbaijani Armed Forces have 20 Mechanical Mine Clearing Vehicles (MEMATT) in its inventory, according to a deal signed with ASFAT in January 2020. However, it is uncertain how many MEMATTs will be delivered to Ukraine in the first stage by Azerbaijan, which continues to utilize these vehicles in Fuzuli, Jabrayil, Aghdam, Kalbajar, Khojavend, and surrounding areas. Azerbaijan’s commitments to Ukraine also include training Ukrainian forces to operate these vehicles.
In a statement following the event, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Bohdan Drapyaty, praised Azerbaijan for the considerable help provided as a result of Russia’s large-scale invasion. The Deputy Minister drew special attention to Azerbaijan’s recent help in alleviating the effects of the explosion at the Kakhovskaya HPP (hydroelectric power plant). Furthermore, Drapyaty stated that the possession of Ukrainian land by Russian Federation occupying forces, as well as their intensive use of various weapons and mine systems, resulted in the vast destruction of territories, settlements, and infrastructure with explosive materials.
Ambassador Seymour Mardaliev stated that his country stands by Kyiv and would continue to defend Ukraine against the Russian Federation’s large-scale invasion. In the conclusion of his statement, Mardaliev made the following statements: “We are very happy to be at this meeting. We would like to express our admiration for your resilience and courage in repelling the aggression of the Russian Federation. Therefore, we decided to increase the size of the aid package for Ukraine, especially in humanitarian demining. We have made political commitments to help Ukraine.”
MEMATT is an autonomous mine-clearing vehicle developed by ASFAT, Turkey’s state-owned defense contractor, and Turkish private defense companies. According to ASFAT, MEMATT’s have been rendered mine resistant by being outfitted with Armox 500T, the world’s hardest plate, and can be commanded remotely from a distance of 5000 meters. It has a top speed of 4 km/h, can be utilized in a variety of terrain situations, can go up a 60 percent slope, and can move sideways on a 40 percent slope. It can travel down to a depth of 25 centimeters and clear a 1.7-meter-wide by one-kilometer-long area of mines in an hour. It can also withstand an 8-kilogram TNT explosion. With Ukraine’s defense minister, Oleksii Reznikov, recently saying that Ukraine is now the most mined country in the world with as many as 5 mines per square metre mine clearance equipment like the MEMATTs will prove invaluable.