A Number to Mention, Be Careful When Sitting Down: Serzh Sargsyan Reveals UAV Figures

After April, we were busy for a long time conducting an investigation, studying the lessons of the war, because any reform in the army, any acquisition of new weapons must be contingent on the results of military operations, and the ammunition used by your opponent.

At that time, we affirmed two documents for the years 2018-2024: a development plan for the armed forces consisting of 169 points, detailing what we should do, what changes should be made and what categories of armaments we should develop, what we would obtain. Based on that document, a plan for the acquisition of armaments and military equipment was prepared. A budget of $1.3 billion was allocated for this purpose. There were sources for these funds.

Former President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan announced this during an interview. According to Sargsyan, of the $1.3 billion, more than $500 million was earmarked for the improvement and acquisition of aviation, air defense, and UAVs: “Let me mention one number, be careful when sitting down: it was planned to acquire 2,500 UAVs by 2024. They were to be acquired both domestically and internationally. Those contracts were not executed. For the years 2018-2020, it was required to acquire more than 1,000 UAVs. They were both strike and reconnaissance drones capable of operating at a range of 150 km depending on their cost. But, unfortunately, for reasons unknown, the armament plan was changed. I am not aware of what modifications were made, but it changed because only one batch of TORs was received, and that was under our agreement, while three batches should have been received,” he said.

As for the Su-30s, Sargsyan stated that purchasing weapons is also an art, and it should not be done for publicity: “How many times did those Su-30s fly? They only flew once during the Tavush border incident. Even then, in such a clumsy manner, that I had to ask my colleagues to call the Ministry of Defense and tell them not to do such nonsense, since they flew without armaments. Subsequently, the military also said that there was no armament. Don’t they realize that there will be issues with the munitions for those aircraft when making the purchase?”