Armenia plans to buy advanced weapons in 2022-2023, no decision made on S-400 systems yet - General Staff chief
YEREVAN. Dec 26 (Interfax) - Armenia plans to procure state-of-the-art weapons in 2022-2023, Chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces Artak Davtyan said at a press conference on Thursday.
"Work is underway to procure advanced weapons. No treaties have been signed so far. But we are planning that these weapons should be in Armenia as soon as 2022-2023," Davtyan said, without providing details.
At the same time, he expressed doubt over the need to buy S-400 surface-to-air missile defense systems from Russia.
"No decision on procuring S-400 complexes has been made as of yet. The question is: do we need these systems? We have S-300s, which are already in service. We have bought Tor systems," Davtyan said.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced Armenia's acquisition of Tor-M2KM air defense systems from Russia on December 21.
In the coming days, Pashinyan will provide information regarding the situation surrounding the purchase of Sukhoi Su-30SM fighter jets from Russia, Davtyan said.
According to earlier reports, Armenia has procured four Su-30SM multirole fighter jets from Russia and intends to buy more planes. Armenian Defense Minister David Tonoyan said that Armenia is expecting to receive the Su-30SM planes as part of a contract with Russia in December 2019 or January 2020.
Furthermore, in 2020 Armenia plans to purchase weapons from the Russian company ORSIS, which was recently removed from the Armenian blacklist of arms suppliers and gained the right to take part in Armenia's state weapons procurement program.
A criminal case was opened in Armenia on charges of negligence in office following the breakdown of the Defense Ministry's tender to procure several million dollars' worth of weapons in which Russia's ORSIS took part.