Countries that supply Armenia's armed forces

[Mos]

Re: Countries that supply Armenia's armed forces

As for Albania, check the first few links in this Google result http://www.google.ca/search?q=albani...ient=firefox-a

Nice, never thought Albania supplied us, Go Albania I guess...

[Federate]

Re: Countries that supply Armenia's armed forces

Nice, never thought Albania supplied us, Go Albania I guess...

Just goes to further show us how limited religion or any kind of "brotherhood" can be when it comes to politics and business.

[Mos]

Re: Countries that supply Armenia's armed forces

Just goes to further show us how limited religion or any kind of "brotherhood" can be when it comes to politics and business.

Well Albania is not really a Muslim state. It's like Azerbaijan, but even more non-religious. There's also sizeable Christian population there. But yeah religion plays little role in politics and business these days.

Though I would think since we are good with Serbia, our relations with Albania would be weak...

[Armanen]

Re: Countries that supply Armenia's armed forces

Other than UAV there is no reason Armenia should buy supplies from the West. First, as has been pointed out, the Armenian military is mostly based around the working parameters of Russian weaponry, therefore buying Western/NATO arms would cost the Armenian military more than just the price of the weapons but new training, and incorporation of NATO standards which may or may not be compatiable with the Russia style that is dominant.

Second, Westerns arms are more expensive and often not much better than their Russian equivalents; the latter being more than enough to wage a successful war.
Also, Armenia has a couple of public arms agreements with Russia that commits that latter to provide modern weaponry to Armenia at a marked down price. So in conclusion, neither the economic nor military incentive is there for the High Command of the Armed Forces of Armenia.

[Mos]

Re: Countries that supply Armenia's armed forces

Other than UAV there is no reason Armenia should buy supplies from the West. First, as has been pointed out, the Armenian military is mostly based around the working parameters of Russian weaponry, therefore buying Western/NATO arms would cost the Armenian military more than just the price of the weapons but new training, and incorporation of NATO standards which may or may not be compatiable with the Russia style that is dominant.

Second, Westerns arms are more expensive and often not much better than their Russian equivalents; the latter being more than enough to wage a successful war.
Also, Armenia has a couple of public arms agreements with Russia that commits that latter to provide modern weaponry to Armenia at a marked down price. So in conclusion, neither the economic nor military incentive is there for the High Command of the Armed Forces of Armenia.

I don't think our Armenia is that incompetent to not be able to integrate some Western weapons as well. Russia has some good military goods, but West has some weapons that are better than Russia's. For example, purchasing drones wouldn't be a bad idea. Many post-Soviet armies have gone through similar transitions of having the balance between russians and western arms in their armies, and I believe this is a powerful thing to be able to do as you get the best of both.

Actually, Armenia has been participating in NATO excersises and in our military doctrine we put emphasis on bringing our army to "western standards". So our army is not totally incompetent when it comes to Western arms, especially given our cooperation with Western military structures.

YEREVAN (AFP)–Armenia’s recent draft program on the Individual Partnership Action Plan with NATO for 2011-2012 will be completed by the end of February, a spokesman for the country’s state department on cooperation with the alliance said on Friday.

The draft program on Armenia’s cooperation with NATO envisages interaction in sectors of security and military tasks, as well as of public notification and of prevention of environmental and civilian crises.

“Active cooperation with NATO within the framwork of the strategic defense revision yielded considerable results,” said Artur Bagdasaryan, the secretary of the Armenian National Security Council.

Armenia entered the deal with NATO on IPAP in December of 2005 and it stipulates the country’s consultations with the Western military alliance on security strategies, military budget planning and other issues.

[Armanen]

Re: Countries that supply Armenia's armed forces

I don't think our Armenia is that incompetent to not be able to integrate some Western weapons as well. Russia has some good military goods, but West has some weapons that are better than Russia's. For example, purchasing drones wouldn't be a bad idea. Many post-Soviet armies have gone through similar transitions of having the balance between russians and western arms in their armies, and I believe this is a powerful thing to be able to do as you get the best of both.

Actually, Armenia has been participating in NATO excersises and in our military doctrine we put emphasis on bringing our army to "western standards". So our army is not totally incompetent when it comes to Western arms, especially given our cooperation with Western military structures.

You missed the point. I was not saying that the Armenian military is unable intellectually to change, I was saying that because the system is based on Soviet/Russian style, it would require overhauling the entire military. What post soviet state(s), other than the Baltic countries, and georgia, all being throughly anti Russian countries, have successfully transferred to a truly nato oriented military? You may bring up azeribaijan but if you consider the low morale, military hierarchy, and over all weaponry, they are still very Russo centric.

What is meant by 'western standards', at least in Armenia's case, is the dominance of civilians in the military hierarchy instead of career officers as is the case in many non western nations, and still true in Armenia. Also, on a tactical level there are a number of things Armenia can and is learning from nato, especially conflict and post conflict resolution missions, something Russian military doctrine doesn't emphasize nearly as much. Otherwise, strategically speaking, Armenia is fully cemented in the Russian standards.

The changes that need to occur are getting rid of incompetent officers, boosting morale of soldiers, eradicating hazing, acquiring UAVs if possible, and continuing with the efforts to establish and expand a native military industrial complex capacity.