Friday, August 23 2013

 

The
latest reports of RFE/RL Armenia Service on acquisition of Chinese AR1A multiple launch rocket systems
by Armenia has evidently awakened the local mass
media, particularly anti-Russian media outlets, giving them a fresh impetus to
again call for refusal from Russian weapons and diversification of the
suppliers of up-to-date weapons and military equipment.

 

Actually,
Armenia buys weapons and military hardware mostly from Russia. Representatives
of the Defense Ministry and other structures supervising the field used to say
that Armenia acquires weapons from Russia at preferential prices, but they
avoid speaking of the quality of the acquired weaponry. On the other hand, Armenia
shows growing interest in up-to-date solutions of the leading European
countries in the field. Yet in August 2012, Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan
said after a press conference with his Italian counterpart that Armenia is
interested in Italy’s experience in the field of military industry. Cooperation
with Italy like with many other countries is promising for Armenia. Poland, for
instance, is taking more tangible but still timid steps to enter the Armenian
market. In April 2013, Poland and Armenia signed an agreement to set up a joint
venture of Lubawa Group, Poland and Charentsavan machine- building plant,
Armenia. The company LUBAWA Armenia is expected to
produce multiscale optical camouflage nets (87% of turnover), T-72
mock-ups  (10% of turnover) and tents (3%
of the turnover). These and other examples clearly demonstrate the Armenian
leadership’s efforts to certainly diversify weaponry suppliers. Unfortunately,
these efforts have not produced any tangible results in the view of some
factors. Firstly, Armenia has political dependence on Russia and feels shortage
or seeming shortage of funds. In the meanwhile, diversification could become a
serious background for not only and not so much modernization of the armed
forces, but for better maneuvering on the foreign political arena. Concealing
their concern over delivery of Russian weapons to Azerbaijan and trying to
‘protect’ the Russians from the righteous anger, the military leadership of
Armenia are well aware that "if you say in the first chapter that there is
a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must
go off.”  This dramatic principle is
relevant to our neighbor as never before considering its huge military budget
that is equal to Armenia’s state budget. However, extreme dependence on Moscow
restricts Yerevan. What we can do now is to stay aside and look at how our
strategic ally equips the army of our enemy.

 

In
the meanwhile, diversification could make those deals transparent. It would be
naïve to hope for transparent fulfillment of a contract given the corrupt
Russian military-industrial complex and unhealthy state procurement system in
Armenia full of “kickbacks and curve-outs.” It is hardly possible to apply such
methods dealing with Western partners.

 

Hopefully,
the Chinese AR1A multiple launch rocket systems will not become the only
example of diversification in the field. It would be good if the country used
the diversified military-industrial complex of Israel, one of the world’s
leading arms manufacturers and exporters. 
Military cooperation with Israel would be quite effective for the Armed
Forces of Armenia, but it requires close political cooperation of the
countries. Such scenario seems impossible amid deep Armenian-Iranian
interaction and Israeli-Azerbaijani relations, but in such fast-changing region
where once strong allies Israel and Turkey are now on the opposite sides of the
barricades, a change of geopolitical landmarks and preferences is just
paperwork. It helps to remember that developing relations with Iran Armenia
simultaneously receives tangible economic aid from the USA - Iran’s
geopolitical enemy number one.

 

Talks on
inexpensive, relatively accessible Russian weapons are wide open to criticism.
Their goal is to justify the extremely inefficient military spending. Throw a
glace at the car fleet of the Defense Ministry that consists of offroaders as
big as armored vehicles, at the luxurious offices and mansions of military
officials worth millions of dollars, to see that there is no shortage of funds.
Effective management of the budget funds and a true fight against corruption
would lay a good foundation for searching new weaponry suppliers.