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Armenia Displays Sophisticated Air Defense Systems

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  • Armenia Displays Sophisticated Air Defense Systems

    ARMENIA DISPLAYS SOPHISTICATED AIR DEFENSE SYSTEMS
    Emil Danielyan

    Georgian Daily
    http://georgiandaily.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20873&Itemid=132
    Georgia
    Jan 20 2011

    After several years of silence on the issue, Armenia has officially
    confirmed the existence of the sophisticated Russian-supplied S-300
    air defense system in its military arsenal and demonstrated this by
    broadcasting video evidence.

    The authorities in Yerevan have also approved a five-year plan to
    modernize the Armenian armed forces, which envisages the acquisition
    of precision-guided surface-to-surface missiles.

    These developments reflect Armenia's intensifying arms race with
    Azerbaijan in the unresolved conflict over Karabakh. They were
    clearly made possible by a further deepening of Russian-Armenian
    military ties that led to the signing of a new defense agreement
    between Moscow and Yerevan in August 2010. The accord signed during
    Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's state visit to Armenia extended
    Russia's lease on a military base in the country by 24 years, until
    2044, and upgraded its security mission. It also commits Moscow to
    supplying the Armenian army with "modern and compatible weaponry and
    (special) military hardware" (Armenian Public Television, December 25).

    Moscow had significantly reinforced the combat capacity of the
    Russian base, headquartered in the northern Armenian city of Gyumri,
    by deploying a division of S-300 systems and two dozen MiG-29 fighter
    jets there in the late 1990's. The two countries agreed to jointly
    defend Armenia's airspace in the same period. Their integrated air
    defense system was given a "regional" status by the Russian-led
    Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in early 2007.

    Moreover, in 2007, Russian military officials first indicated that the
    Armenian military had its own S-300's. The then commander-in-chief
    of the Russian Air Force, Colonel-General Vladimir Mikhailov, said
    that Moscow was modernizing Armenian air defense capabilities
    and would continue doing so in future. Mikhailov's deputy,
    Lieutenant-General Aytech Bizhev, revealed that as part of that
    assistance, Armenian officers had been trained to operate the
    long-range S-300 surface-to-air missile system known for its precision
    (www.armenialiberty.org, 15 February 2007).

    It was not until December 20, 2010 that Yerevan explicitly confirmed
    possessing S-300's. In a written statement, the Armenian defense
    ministry stated that Defense Minister, Seyran Ohanian, visited an
    anti-aircraft military unit and "familiarized himself with the work of
    the state-of-the-art S-300 air-defense systems." The statement added
    that Ohanian also inaugurated a new Russian-Armenian "air-defense
    command point" featuring S-300's.

    Five days later, the ministry aired on state television a ten-minute
    report showcasing the Russian-made systems, test-firing missiles in an
    undisclosed location in Armenia and providing a detailed description
    of their technical-tactical characteristics. The footage also featured
    an excerpt from a speech delivered by Ohanian to military personnel.

    "We have acquired new means [of air defense] ... and those acquisitions
    will be expanded in 2011. The air defenses of our enemies do not
    have means of this type and quantity," Ohanian said (Armenian Public
    Television, December 25).

    Neither Ohanian, nor other military officials specified precisely when
    the Armenian military received the S-300's or at what cost. Armenia's
    official defense budget in 2010 was an equivalent of about $400
    million, a sum comparable to the market price of two or more S-300
    divisions. Moscow is thus likely to have delivered the systems to
    its main regional ally at a knockdown price or even free of charge.

    Earlier in December 2010, Armenian President, Serzh Sargsyan,
    and the National Security Council approved the State Program of
    Developing Weaponry and Military Hardware in 2011-2015. Sargsyan's
    office released few details of the modernization plan, saying only
    that the Armenian army will procure more "state-of-the-art weapons"
    (Statement by the Armenian presidential press service, December 11).

    The modernization plan is essentially based on two documents approved
    in August 2010 by an ad hoc government task force. Ohanian told
    journalists then that Armenia will enhance its "long-range strike
    capacity" and will be able to "thwart enemy movements deep inside the
    entire theater of hostilities." Ohanian did not deny that the planned
    arms acquisitions are a response to the ongoing military build-up in
    Azerbaijan and Baku's growing threats to resolve the Karabakh conflict
    by force (www.lragir.am, August 10). Azerbaijani defense spending,
    fuelled by the country's massive oil revenues, is projected to total
    over $3 billion and will slightly surpass Armenia's entire state
    budget in 2011.

    In a subsequent interview with Radio Free Europe's Armenian service,
    Ohanian noted that the precision-guided weapons sought by Yerevan
    would potentially target the "strategic facilities" of Armenia's
    hostile neighbors. The Armenian military is believed to already
    possess short-range tactical missiles capable of striking military
    and civilian targets in Azerbaijan (RFE/RL, December 13).

    The linkage between the military modernization plan and the
    Russian-Armenian defense pact was effectively acknowledged by Artur
    Baghdasarian, the Secretary of the National Security Council.

    Baghdasarian also reaffirmed the two governments' intention to set
    up joint defense ventures to be based in Armenia. The Kremlin called
    into question its supposedly pro-Armenian stance when it pointedly
    declined to refute, prior to Medvedev's visit to Yerevan, Russian press
    reports that it also plans to sell S-300's to Azerbaijan. Armenian
    opposition figures and commentators voiced serious concerns about this
    possibility, saying that it would change the balance of forces in the
    conflict zone in Azerbaijan's favor. Armenian officials dismissed
    such fears, with Ohanian claiming that his forces "know the ways
    of reducing the effectiveness of such systems" (Armenian Public
    Television, December 25).

    Whatever the reality, Yerevan sees no option other than to
    continue relying heavily on military cooperation with Moscow. With
    internationally mediated Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks remaining
    deadlocked and the vast majority of Armenians still strongly opposed to
    any peaceful settlement that would place Karabakh under Azeri control,
    Armenia currently seems to lack viable policy alternatives.

    Source: http://www.jamestown.org/programs/edm/




    From: A. Papazian
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