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New Delhi: Armenia has turned to India to beef up its defences with the acquisition of an artillery system amid persevering with tensions with Azerbaijan, a detailed ally of Pakistan and Turkey. Over the past two months, Armenia has procured anti-tank missiles and multi-barrel rocket launchers, amongst different forms of munitions, from India within the wake of a Russia-negotiated truce preceded by combating over management of the Nagorno-Karabakh area.
The most recent tools on Armenia’s purchasing listing is the mounted 155mm 39-calibre artillery system manufactured by Bharat Forge, a non-public defence agency a part of Pune-based conglomerate Kalyani Group. This would be the first artillery order for Kalyani Group — the maker of a number of indigenous gun programs but to be procured by the Military.
Whereas the Kalyani Group maintains that the USD 155 million (over Rs 1,200 crore) order is for a “non-conflict zone”, sources within the defence institution have now recognized Armenia as the customer. The gun programs shall be manufactured at Kalyani Group’s facility in Pune and delivered to the customer in phases over the following three years.
However this isn’t the primary time Armenia has purchased Indian defence programs. In September this 12 months, Yerevan signed a government-to-government contract with New Delhi for the indigenous Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers, anti-tank missiles and ammunition.
Armenian Defence minister Suren Papikyan even met his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh on the sidelines of the DefExpo held in Gandhinagar final month, trying to broaden defence cooperation with India. ThePrint had reported then that Armenia was eyeing extra defence offers with India together with procurement of drones, counter-drone measures and loitering munitions, moreover mid-range surface-to-air missile (SAM) programs just like the Akash developed by the Defence Analysis and Improvement Organisation (DRDO).
The ex-Soviet republic had purchased 4 indigenous ‘Swathi’ weapon-locating radars from India in 2020, which had been delivered within the backdrop of its renewed battle with Azerbaijan.
Revisiting the battle, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian Monday accused Azerbaijan of “capturing civilians” doing farm work in Nagorno-Karabakh.
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Azerbaijan-Turkey-Pakistan axis
The Authorities of India has been cautious of talking on defence cooperation with Armenia owing to the previous Soviet republic’s strained ties with Azerbaijan, seen by many as a part of an rising axis alongside Turkey and Pakistan. Observers have identified that, regardless of their bodily distance, an “oblique linkage” has emerged between Armenia-Azerbaijan and India-Pakistan in recent times.
In 2017, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Pakistan issued a joint assertion establishing safety cooperation and constructing additional on earlier bilateral army support preparations. Azerbaijan later deployed Turkish drones within the 44-day warfare towards Armenia in 2020, and is believed to be in talks with Pakistan to purchase the JF-17 fighter plane.
In September 2021, the three international locations additionally launched an eight-day joint army drill that got here to be often known as the “Three Brothers” train.
By the way, Pakistan was the second nation after Turkey to acknowledge Azerbaijan as an unbiased state on 12 December, 1991.
The regional trio is essential within the sense that it’s going to “add a army element to the political ties”, Soner Cagaptay, director of the Turkish Program on the Washington Institute, was quoted as saying by Arab Information in 2021.
Within the Baku Declaration signed final 12 months, the audio system of the Turkish, Azerbaijani and Pakistani parliaments agreed to help one another’s territorial integrity, whereas underlining their respective priorities. The declaration was an expression of overt help for Azerbaijan’s marketing campaign in Karabakh, Pakistan’s claims in Jammu and Kashmir, and Turkey’s standpoint vis-à-vis the Cyprus, Aegean and East Mediterranean disputes.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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