Defense Cooperation Between Armenia and India Expected to Get Major Uplift: India Narrative

Indian news and views website India Narrative has published an article about the recent visit of Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan to India.

The article says that the defense cooperation between Armenia and India is expected to get a major uplift after the visit of a high-level delegation from Armenia to Gujarat’s Gandhinagar for DefExpo 2022. It also says that during the meeting with his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh, Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan focused on the possibilities of expanding bilateral military and military-technical cooperation between the two countries.

“Papikyan and accompanying interlocutors also spent quite a bit of time touring the exhibition booths at Asia’s largest defense event, familiarizing themselves with the presented exhibits and having discussions with the managers of a number of companies”, the article says, stating that the significant visit took place amid the latest military escalation between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

India Narrative says India has maintained a consistent position with regard to the situation in the Caucasus region, calling for a peaceful resolution of the conflict through diplomatic means right from the beginning of the hostilities.

“I presented the situation created as a result of the recent aggression of Azerbaijan and thanked for India’s clear position in international platforms. I also invited my colleague to visit Armenia on an official visit,” India Narrative quoted Papikyan as saying.

“With Turkey and Pakistan backing Azerbaijan to the hilt, Yerevan has been keen on building a strong strategic partnership with New Delhi. It all began with India supplying Armenia with four Swathi Weapon Locating Radars (WLRs) developed by the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) at a cost of $40 million in 2020. Since then, from indigenously-developed Pinaka Extended Range multi-barrel rocket launchers and laser-guided Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) to the New Generation Akash (Akash-NG) missile, the government led by Nikol Pashinyan has been showing deep interest in acquiring the latest Indian military hardware”, the article says.

As reported recently, Armenia and India have now signed a 250 million USD weapon deal to take their defense partnership to a new high.

“The centuries-old India-Armenia connect makes the bond even stronger”, the article said.