Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

[Spetsnaz]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

Restoring Armenia's Military Manufacturing Sector: Is It Feasible?

14:06, March 12, 2014
Efforts are underway in Armenia to restore the military manufacturing sector in Armenia and a bill designed to do just that is now in the parliament’s upcoming agenda.

Armenia had been integrated into the Soviet Union’s powerful military manufacturing sector and mainly contributed with scientific input and skills.

Large scientific centers were established in Armenia, and while they didn’t produce weapons as finished products, they did carry out vital research.

As the war in Artsakh raged on, Armenia was able to produce bullets and certain advancements were made in the field of equipment spare parts repair and production. Nevertheless, the military manufacturing sector never took shape and Soviet-era facilities were shut down.

Attempts at the HrazdanMach plant to produce grenades and mortars weren’t successful. Today, a company called Aspar manufactures a variety of guns (revolvers, sniper rifles and automatic weapons) they have been tested in various military schools. If everything goes well, the company might go into full-scale production. But the company is mainly focused on the market for hunting weapons. There are projects to create joint Armenia-Russian companies for the production of armored military vehicles.

Armenia must also come to grips with the fact that neighboring Azerbaijan is investing huge resources into organizing military production. Presently, they are experimenting with the production of armored vehicles on Russian and Turkish equipment models. Azerbaijan is intent to patent and copy what others are producing and is stressing cooperation with Turkish companies. Of late, Armenia has placed greater focus on designing its own equipment.

Naturally, the military manufacturing sector will not sprout just because a bill has been drafted. Such an objective requires huge investments. But history shows that countries like Armenia are capable of establishing strong military production facilities by taking advantage of recent innovations.

Just look at the examples of Israel and Serbia. But such facilities will only prove successful if they break into the international market. Otherwise they will become a financial burden to the state. Some believe that the longer prospects in Armenia are good for light-manufactured goods, pilotless drones, guns and optical equipment. Armenia agrees, and is setting its sights on the production of guns and light military carriers. Down the line, it looks to manufacture drones.

The international arms and armaments market is already saturated and mostly monopolized as well. The big players are Russia, the U.S. and Western Europe. But Armenia is located in a complex strategic region where the demand for arms will remain high in the coming decades. Let’s not forget the world arms market is worth around US$400 billion annually.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the U.S. is the top arms exporter (30%), followed by Russia (26%), Germany (7%), France (6%) and China (5%).

The end of the war in Iraq has negatively impacted U.S. arms exports and has benefitted Russia. Moscow’s top arms importers are Syria and India.

If Armenia is able to manufacture an innovative line of new weapons, in cooperation with Russian firms, it just might get a toe hold in Russian military exports.

http://hetq.am/eng/news/33102/restoring-armenias-military-manufacturing-sector-is-it-feasible.html/

[burjuin]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

Armenian Army

[burjuin]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

Armenia peacekeepers to head for Afghanistan

16:29, 12.01.2015
Region: Armenia
Theme: Politics



YEREVAN. – A 65-member Armenian peacekeeping unit traveled to Germany on Sunday, and to participate in the NATO-led mission as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

Prior to their deployment to Afghanistan, however, these Armenian peacekeepers will attend three- to four-week training courses and pre-deployment exercises in Germany. Subsequently, they will head for Camp Marmal in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, where, as part of the German Armed Forces in Afghanistan, they will guard the airport in Mazar-i-Sharif, and the ISAF military base.

The peacekeeping unit, which will conduct a six-month service in Afghanistan, was officially sent off from Zvartnots International Airport of the Armenian capital city of Yerevan.

Armenia News - NEWS.am

http://news.am/eng/news/247365.html

[Federate]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

Armenian Army Ordered To Step Up ‘Preventive’ Actions


Hovannes Movsisian
Հրապարակված է՝ 12.01.2015

Defense Minister Seyran Ohanian has ordered the Armenian military to launch “preventive” offensive operations in response to what the authorities in Yerevan say is the latest upsurge in Azerbaijani armed incursions, which reportedly left one Armenian civilian dead on Sunday.

“We must fight against [Azerbaijani] sabotage and reconnaissance actions, carry out training exercises for enhancing the combat readiness of all army detachments, punish the enemy during its sabotage and reconnaissance actions and, in some cases, attack without waiting for the enemy to act first,” he told senior military officials at a meeting in Yerevan on Monday.

Ohanian said that troops deployed along Armenia’s border with Azerbaijan and the more militarized “line of contact” around Nagorno-Karabakh must be constantly prepared for “punitive” or “preventive” measures. To that end, he said, the commanders of army battalions and even companies must now be allowed to take such action on their own.

“I am calling on everyone to give the commanders that freedom,” he added.

The extraordinary order was issued one day after what Armenia’s Defense Ministry called an Azerbaijani commando raid on the northern Tavush province. In a statement, the ministry said that an 80-year-resident of a local Armenian village, Hrant Sargsian, was shot dead as Armenian troops stationed nearby repelled the cross-border attack.

The Baghanis village mayor, Narek Sahakian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) the elderly man accidentally came across the retreating Azerbaijani soldiers as he grazed sheep in the border area. “They killed him,” said Sahakian.

The ministry claimed that one Azerbaijani soldier was also killed in the incident. Its spokesman, Artsrun Hovannisian, said on Monday that the Armenian military promptly allowed Azerbaijani troops to recover the soldier’s body from no-man’s land separating the two warring sides.

Nagorno-Karabakh’s Armenian-backed army, meanwhile, claimed that its forces took “preventive measures” later on Sunday to thwart similar raids which it said were attempted by the Azerbaijani army at two sections of “the line of contact.” No Karabakh Armenian soldiers were killed or wounded in the firefights, it said.

The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry strongly denied the reported incidents. It insisted that its troops did not kill the Armenian villager or suffer any casualties on Sunday. “Our armed forces are in full control of the situation along the entire frontline,” it said.

The ministry earlier denied similar Azerbaijan attacks which were alleged by the Armenian side in the past week. Two Armenian soldiers were shot dead in one such incident reported on January 3.

That tensions in the Karabakh conflict zone have increased since then was acknowledged by the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry on Monday. However, the ministry blamed “Armenia’s systematic provocative actions” for the escalation, according to the APA news agency.

The military authorities in Yerevan and Stepanakert already reported a drastic increase in Azerbaijani incursions throughout last year. They say this is the main reason why combat casualties suffered by both sides rose sharply in 2014.

Tension on the frontlines ran particularly high in early August. At least 14 Azerbaijani and 5 Armenian soldiers were killed in that upsurge of violence, which led Russian President Vladimir Putin to host an emergency summit of his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts. Armenian-Azerbaijani truce violations decreased markedly in the following weeks. But they intensified again following the November 12 shooting down by Azerbaijani forces of an Armenian combat helicopter near Karabakh.

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/26789850.html

[argin]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

Karabakh forces thwart 2 subversion attempts by Azeris


Two infiltration attempts by Azeri armed forces were thwarted on Sunday, Jan 11 in the northeastern (Jraberd) and eastern (Akna) sections of the line of contact with Karabakh troops.

The Nagorno Karabakh defense army frontline units timely detected the advance of the adversary’s forces and threw the enemy back to its initial positions.

The Azeri losses are being clarified, no losses were reported on the Karabakh side.

[argin]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

Do they mean they flew it inside Karabakh ?didnt we teach them a lesson back in 2011 shutting one down


Azerbaijani Defense Ministry: Armed Forces use any equipment and means to track invaders’ movement and always will
[ 12 January 2015 14:55 ]
“This no secret to anyone as well as Armenia, the invader of our lands”

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov – APA. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry commented Monday on Armenian media reports of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces’ drones flying over the front line.

The Defense Ministry’s press service told APA that Azerbaijani uses any military hardware at its disposal – drones, helicopters, aircrafts, space satellites, etc – within its sovereign territories.

“It’s no secret to anyone as well as Armenia, the invader of our lands. We’re not thinking of telling the separatist-marionette regime what we use in our territories. In order to track the invaders’ movement, the Armed Forces use any equipment and means, and always will,” the ministry said.

[burjuin]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

Armenian Army

[Ak105]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

Restoring Armenia's Military Manufacturing Sector: Is It Feasible?

14:06, March 12, 2014
Efforts are underway in Armenia to restore the military manufacturing sector in Armenia and a bill designed to do just that is now in the parliament’s upcoming agenda.

Armenia had been integrated into the Soviet Union’s powerful military manufacturing sector and mainly contributed with scientific input and skills.

Large scientific centers were established in Armenia, and while they didn’t produce weapons as finished products, they did carry out vital research.

As the war in Artsakh raged on, Armenia was able to produce bullets and certain advancements were made in the field of equipment spare parts repair and production. Nevertheless, the military manufacturing sector never took shape and Soviet-era facilities were shut down.

Attempts at the HrazdanMach plant to produce grenades and mortars weren’t successful. Today, a company called Aspar manufactures a variety of guns (revolvers, sniper rifles and automatic weapons) they have been tested in various military schools. If everything goes well, the company might go into full-scale production. But the company is mainly focused on the market for hunting weapons. There are projects to create joint Armenia-Russian companies for the production of armored military vehicles.

Armenia must also come to grips with the fact that neighboring Azerbaijan is investing huge resources into organizing military production. Presently, they are experimenting with the production of armored vehicles on Russian and Turkish equipment models. Azerbaijan is intent to patent and copy what others are producing and is stressing cooperation with Turkish companies. Of late, Armenia has placed greater focus on designing its own equipment.

Naturally, the military manufacturing sector will not sprout just because a bill has been drafted. Such an objective requires huge investments. But history shows that countries like Armenia are capable of establishing strong military production facilities by taking advantage of recent innovations.

Just look at the examples of Israel and Serbia. But such facilities will only prove successful if they break into the international market. Otherwise they will become a financial burden to the state. Some believe that the longer prospects in Armenia are good for light-manufactured goods, pilotless drones, guns and optical equipment. Armenia agrees, and is setting its sights on the production of guns and light military carriers. Down the line, it looks to manufacture drones.

The international arms and armaments market is already saturated and mostly monopolized as well. The big players are Russia, the U.S. and Western Europe. But Armenia is located in a complex strategic region where the demand for arms will remain high in the coming decades. Let’s not forget the world arms market is worth around US$400 billion annually.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the U.S. is the top arms exporter (30%), followed by Russia (26%), Germany (7%), France (6%) and China (5%).

The end of the war in Iraq has negatively impacted U.S. arms exports and has benefitted Russia. Moscow’s top arms importers are Syria and India.

If Armenia is able to manufacture an innovative line of new weapons, in cooperation with Russian firms, it just might get a toe hold in Russian military exports.

http://hetq.am/eng/news/33102/restor...feasible.html/

Good stuff. This might benefit our economy. Take an example from the U.S. The Great Depression was basically ended by the opening of factories during ww2.

[burjuin]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army

[Mher]

Re: Nagorno-Karabagh: Military Balance Between Armenia & Azerbaijan

I am sorry Mher, but you're totally wrong about Ukraine.
It had all this territory and population and the biggest economy per capita in former USSR. What prevented it from keeping all those, including Crimea and Donbass? Nothing.
If anybody compares us and them, they would be way off. Ukraine has been treated the best by russians in history. Even better than most of Russia itself. Because exept Galicia, all of Ukraine and Russia were considering themselfs the same one people. Like people of Armenian republic and Nagorno karabakh.
Actually there is bigger diffrences between any of our populations then between ukrainians and russians(not including galicians).
Number one problem is the corruption in Ukraine.
Some circles (led by Khazars and galicians) succeded pulling those populations apart.
The naiveness in gridd,in beliving that they would become very reach and prosperous joining europe with their industry and know how is part of this.
But from what it looks like what's left after all this will be a country no better than Bulgaria or Greece at best.
Before this, Ukraine had the biggest aerospace industry in world behind US, the biggest steel producing industry in europe behind Germany, bigger machinery building capacity then England and France combined and the biggest agriculture in Europe. Period.
And Ukraine had all this power not because of Europe, but because of tight embrace between russians and ukrainians. Not a single stone has been put in Ukraine in past 1oo years by europeans.
It does not look like US and Europe are very interested in preserving all this in Ukraine. All they want is another client state that is a platform against russia in eastward expansion.
Turning your back on your brother in hopes of a bigger payoff from Odar, will end up with loosing everything.
Do not fall into propaganda trap that they are having this conflict with russians because of freedom and democracy.
Ukraine got freed in 1991. And what's kept them from living democratically in fair society? Nothing.
Some believe that Ukraine had all those corrupt governments because of Russia. Wrong.
It's like saying that we've got this hastaviz aperoneri government because of russia. We got what we've got because who we are.
If russia wants us to be with them, it does not mean that we must have 100% corrupt government.
Russia will accept, i am sure, a government that takes care of it's own population, as long as it's an ally.
The only way for others, including russia to meddle in our internal affairs is when we are corrupt ourselvs.
It will help, if russia is forgotten for once, and a closer, hard look inside is taken by ukrainians as well as us.

Hakob I wasn't claiming that Ukraine made the right or wrong decision. I was pointing out that unlike Armenia, Ukraine can afford to make military and political mistakes and survive because unlike Armenia it has a large territory and population and can afford losses of both.

As far as your analysis of Ukraine:

I don't disagree that western powers, and specially the United States, did have ulterior motives in their support of the Ukraine revolution. However this doesn't condemn the motives of Ukrainians in support of it.

I'm sure that many did falsely think that association with Europe would automatically make them wealthier or more successful. However, to many others, being forced institutional regulations and reforms from the outside was the only way to correct the inherent corruption in every institution of Ukraine. Yes, it's true that it wasn't Russia's fault that corruption in Ukraine existed, and yes theoretically, Ukraine could have been the least corrupt country, and still have been an ally of Russia; However, I think you will agree that unlike the EU Associates Agreement which required a lot of political, judicial, and economic reforms, Russia didn't care how corrupt Ukraine was and certainly wouldn't care to fix it.
Also economically, Russia already had a free trade agreement and Ukraine couldn't possibly gain more economically by becoming even closer to Russia. However, it could get a lot closer to the EU with signing of the AA, and open up new economic opportunities that weren't available before.