The Armed Forces have three branches: Land Forces, Air Force and Air Defence Force (a united branch) and the Navy. Besides the Armed Forces there are some additional forces, which are militarily organised and can be involved in state defence when needed. Those are the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and forces of the State Border Service, which includes Coastal Guard as well.[2].

The current Defence Minister is colonel-general Safar Abiyev, and Chief of Staff is colonel-general Najmaddin Sadykhov.

In July 1992, Azerbaijan ratified the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), which establishes comprehensive limits on key categories of conventional military equipment. Azerbaijan approved the CFE flank agreement in May 1997. It also has acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapons state. Azerbaijan participates in NATO's Partnership for Peace. The country also integrates the "Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova regional co-operation group", known as GUAM.

In 2006 under presidential decree the Azerbaijan Defense Industry was established. The Azerbaijani defense industry is endowed with between $60-70 million in state funding, but is planned to be funded at least $600 million for 2007. The defense industry has emerged as an autonomous entity with a growing defense production capability. The new ministry is cooperating with the defense sectors of Turkey, Ukraine, Pakistan and the U.S.[3]