Armenian Armed Forces have unprecedented arsenal FILM

YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. During the 10-year tenure of Serzh Sargsyan as 3rd President of Armenia, enormous actions have been carried out for acquiring new weaponry for the military and enhancing the country’s defense capabilities.

The Armenian Armed Forces have advanced weapons systems such as the Iskander ballistic missiles, Smerch, Tochka-U missile systems, which are capable of striking long range targets, even Baku.

The process of enhancing defense capacities is a continuous process, and in this context Armenian military industry is under great attention recently, which features quite promising production such as unmanned aerial vehicles, autonomous systems etc.

President Sargsyan’s top priorities in office were ensuring the security of Armenia and Artsakh and strengthening the defense system.  This was all greatly contributed by the fact that the Commander in Chief not only has great experience of working in security structures, but also had direct participation in the Artsakh War, and knows better than anyone both the price of peace and the significance of a powerful military.

The process of improving and developing the skills and capacities of the armed forces, as well as the modernization of the arsenal is under focus for realizing the vision of a powerful, intellectual and modern military.

It is noteworthy that the practice of military exercises has been elevated to a completely new level during these years, in terms of both scenarios and volume. Great attention has been given to international experience, which is contributed by various multilateral military exercises, where Armenia is involved as a CSTO member and NATO partner.

This decade also stood out by the fact that Azerbaijan adopted a conduct of exerting pressure on the Armenian side through border tensions, by failing to extort unilateral concessions from the Armenian side at the negotiations table. Naturally, this couldn’t remain unanswered, and it was publicly stated that the reaction to the Azerbaijani provocations will be punitive in nature because only such tough actions can sober up Baku.

President Sargsyan has not once stated that Armenia doesn’t want war, but at the same time it is ready to resist any challenge.

 The culmination of the Azerbaijani adventurism was the April 2016 aggression against Artsakh, which was a serious challenge for the Armenian military.

As revealed later, Azerbaijan was planning to reach Stepanakert through a detailed premeditated blitzkrieg.

However, due to the bravery of Armenian soldiers and the literate actions of the commanding staff, Aliyev’s plans to capture Artsakh through the use of weapons failed. President Sargsyan had a very significant role in this all also, because it was also due to his military experience and sober assessment of the situation that it was possible to stop the enemy and avoid public chaos.

The April War also became an occasion to raise the existing problems of the military and implement reforms for new realities and challenges.

The most noticeable part of the reforms which were implemented is perhaps the strengthening of all border positions, enhancement of reconnaissance measures, installment of video surveillance devices and night vision systems.

Despite the actions which were implemented, the leadership of the country had the realization of the need for more fundamental reforms in the security sector, which resulted in the introduction of the Nation-Army concept and the “Maximum Result with Available Resources” strategic concept.

At the instruction of the President, the 7-year modernization program of the military was developed and introduced, which is unprecedented both in terms of time and target. Essentially, the 2018-2024 modernization program is the roadmap for realization of the Nation-Army concept.

The program has all prerequisites for providing a leap development in the military and becoming a success. Moreover, several actions which have already been taken – relocating the Monte Melkonyan military college to Dilijan, introducing two new contractual service programs, the launch of Ditaket, a massive project of making the military more transparent, creation of the military insurance fund, developing a new social security package once again prove that a unique attitude exists for the Armenian Armed Forces, because it is the only guarantor of the security of Armenia and Artsakh.

English –translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan