A View from Moscow: Small Armenia needs allies and combat aviation

ArmInfo. Armenia is a rather small country and, at the same time, it is under the influence of various external challenges and threats. A similar opinion was  expressed by the military expert of the "Arsenal of the Fatherland"  magazine Alexei Leonkov during the online video bridge Moscow-Yerevan  in the multimedia press center Sputnik Armenia.

"The Armed Forces of Armenia are currently armed with 19 combat  aircraft, there are also a number of helicopters. At the same time,  there are only four ultra-modern aircraft that meet all existing  requirements and parameters in the Armenian Air Force. These are the  Su-30SM fighters recently supplied from Russia," he said. In this  light, the military expert evaluates the new supplies of the Su-30SM  and the modernization of the Su-25 attack aircraft in the Armenian  Armed Forces as an objective necessity.

As the second aspect of strengthening the Armenian army, Leonkov  considers the existing military- technical cooperation between  Yerevan and Moscow, both within the framework of bilateral treaties  and through the CSTO.

Commenting on the increasing role of unmanned aerial vehicles in the  recent period, the expert emphasized that the existing international  experience and practice show that in the competition of a UAV - a  manned aircraft, the pilot always wins. "Rumors that drones allegedly  successfully overcome the air defense systems in Syria and Libya are  very intensively spread by Turkey. My opinion is- how perfect the air  defense system is, so powerless are the UAVs. Therefore, the UAVs are  weapons of the threatened period.  When all means begin to work, UAVs  are becoming simply useless, "he stressed.

Returning to the topic of modernization of the Armenian Su-25, the  expert noted that the attack aircraft is really an "old man" today.  However, even at the stage of its creation, the attack aircraft was  developed with the condition of its further modernization. The  modernized Su-25 SM3 with new sighting and reconnaissance systems,  according to his estimates, proved to be especially effective during  the operations of the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria. "The  modernization allows the Su-25 SM3 to remain in service and  efficiently carry out work today. More than half of the combat  sorties of Russian aviation in Syria are accounted for by these  attack aircraft. Moreover, the modernization of the SU-25 SM3 is  taking into account the fighting in Syria. We have lost one plane  there, whose defenses were inoperative. It was shot down in the  demilitarized zone by a group of militants hunting for our planes.  Appropriate lessons have been learned. Therefore, attack aircraft  today work only under the cover of fighters in conjunction with air  defense, "the Russian military expert summed up.

To note, on August 23, the Armenian Defense Ministry and the United  Aircraft Corporation signed an agreement on the modernization of the  Su-25 attack aircraft in service with the Armenian Armed Forces.   Su-25 subsonic attack aircraft were purchased in the 90s in Slovakia,  however, the aircraft were not overhauled. At the same time, the  Ministry of Defense of Armenia has not yet confirmed the statement of  the official representative of the Federal Service for Military and  Technical Cooperation of the Russian Federation Maria Vorobyova about  Moscow's readiness "to discuss the issue of supplying Armenia with a  new batch of Su-30SM fighters."