Until now, the Armenian armed forces have had a clearly expressed image of a ground force, relying only on air defense and land-based missile means in the struggle for air supremacy. Times, however, have changed. The dynamic image to be conveyed to the armed forces also requires the presence of fighter-bomber aviation, as no missile system can replace this capability in terms of flexibility of use and resilience.

Ahead of the Shant-2018 strategic command and staff military exercise, the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia will give a lecture on August 28 as part of the preparatory trainings held in the administrative complex of the Ministry of Defense.

Davit Tonoyan presented his vision to the officials regarding the development priorities of the defense sector and the main issues arising from them.

Referring to the prerequisites for the development of the armed forces, the head of the RA Defense Department emphasized the reality of constant learning, reform and making the army more mobile and maneuverable. “Horizontal communication, without bureaucratic hassles, should become the norm, not the exception. We will eliminate the artificial barriers that inhibit or seriously complicate cooperation, excluding, so to speak, the “tunnel” style of work, when individual circles advance their agendas without knowing the common idea that unites them,” said the RA Defense Minister.

Emphasizing the steps aimed at strengthening the armament of the army, modernization of the management system and the combat capability of the personnel, Minister Tonoyan assured that at the moment the works of updating the armament programs are in progress, within the framework of which it is planned to acquire multi-functional aviation as well. “Until now, the Armenian armed forces have had a clearly expressed image of a ground force, relying only on air defense and land-based missile means in the struggle for air supremacy. Times, however, have changed. The dynamic image to be conveyed to the armed forces also requires the presence of fighter-bomber aviation, as no a missile system will not replace this capability in terms of flexibility of use and resistance,” stressed Davit Tonoyan.

At the core of the lecture were the issues of equipping the front line with modern technical means and increasing the effectiveness of combat tasks. In this regard, the Minister of Defense emphasized that in 2016 in the second half and 2017 thanks to the works carried out during the war, the front-line armament was greatly improved with video surveillance and certification equipment, which allowed to significantly reduce the enemy’s chances of carrying out surprise sabotage. Measures are being taken to create an integrated system for detecting the enemy on the front line, making decisions, hitting the enemy with fire and engineering means and assessing the damage caused.

Minister Tonoyan singled out the priority of improving the ways of carrying out combat duty among the priority tasks before the Armed Forces, stressing that the time has come to make radical changes in the ways of carrying out daily combat tasks. “Our goal is to significantly reduce the duration of the personnel being under enemy fire, to increase the degree of protection and resistance, as well as to increase the probability of ambushing and destroying the enemy’s subversive groups,” said the Minister of Defense.

Referring to the other strategic approaches adopted in the defense system, Davit Tonoyan pointed out the priorities of morale-psychological training of the military personnel, material and medical provision and increasing the level of social protection, improvement of the military education system, as well as the expansion of international relations.