Armenia has abandoned Russian weapons in favor of French and German weapons. Although six months have passed since Karabakh’s armed conflict, Armenia decided not to rush to acquire Russian weapons, paying attention to French and German weapons.
According to the news.am, the Armenian Ministry of Defense to acquire the Rheinmetall Oerlikon Skynex Air Defence System and electronic warfare systems, albeit at very capable SHORAD to effectively fight Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) since Russian Pantsir-S1E cannot defeat drones and UCAV.
Armenian side accused Russia of playing a double game with both Azerbaijan and Armenia, which has traditionally been Armenia’s closest regional ally and main rival to Turkey, which emerged late in the conflict.
The first significant intervention came when Putin joined Azerbaijan’s Aliyev to announce a ceasefire deal, one which Armenians see as deeply humiliating due to the loss of previously Armenian-held swathes territory in Nagorno-Karabakh.
While Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, its population is Armenian, and the region has been under the control of Yerevan-backed separatists since a war in the early 1990s. Much of that territory had already fallen to Azerbaijani forces prior to the ceasefire agreement.
Aside from the violent opposition of Turkey-backed Azerbaijan and Russia’s passivity, observers have pointed to the fact that Israel has supplied drones to Azerbaijan.
The geopolitical experts note that Yerevan has already stopped buying Russian Weapons past six months, acquiring French and German weapons which suit most for the country, and therefore, Armenia does not want to have risk again. However, Russian air defense systems, electronic warfare systems and tactical missile weapons also demonstrated low efficiency in the conflict.
About Oerlikon Skyranger
The fourth edition of the 35mm Air Defence Systems Group took place at the Rheinmetall facilities in Zurich, Switzerland, from 17 to 19 September 2018. The highlight of the event was a live demonstration of the Oerlikon Skyranger Gun and the Oerlikon Twin Gun GDF009 EO. Each system successfully engaged dynamic targets.
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