May 27, 2026
On May 18, BTA Minister Mkhitar Hayrapetyan stated that for the first time domestically produced weapons worth millions of dollars were exported from Armenia.
On May 19 168.amhas sent a written request to the RA Minister of High-tech Industry to find out what exactly it is about and to which country it was exported.
And instead of giving a clear answer to our questions in his reply letter sent on May 26, Mkhitar Hayrapetyan decided to send the link to the press conference held on May 20 so that we can find the answer to our question there. In other words, what they or the relevant department get paid for, we have to do.
However, unlike the Ministry of Defense and Security, we did not hesitate and found the part of the press conference offered to us, which refers to the export of domestically produced weapons from Armenia worth millions of dollars.
“For the first time, final military products developed and produced in Armenia were exported this month. It is no coincidence that during my statement I did not mention the names of specific companies, their last address, the number, value and type of weapons, because as a rule, in the case of similar transactions, there should be a consensus between the parties to present these data publicly.
At the moment, there is no such consensus. And this is why we cannot endanger or create additional problems for the future with our statements. The deals that took place, they took place. But the future is very important, these are only the first steps. In other words, it is very important in this field that both Armenia as a state and Armenian companies as business partners are trustworthy and reliable.
There are rules that must be observed, and the observance of these rules is also a prerequisite for possible future new transactions, and there will be future new transactions. As of now, more companies already have permission to export to more countries from the Republic of Armenia government, or at least in the process, than I announced, 2 countries have been exported, but both the government and the private sector will have to follow very carefully and behave professionally, not to jeopardize any possible future deals at the expense of other companies. When all parties make a decision that they should be public and public, in that case, both we, the companies, and the directions, and the weapons, and, why not, also the volume of the transaction will be announced in specific details, although in a certain sense I have made hints that they reach millions of dollars”, stated Mkhitar Hayrapetyan during the press conference held a few days ago, adding that the figures and deputies with access to confidential information can determine whether the mentioned is real or not. to check
If there is a problem of publicity and not interfering with transactions, in this case, maybe the authorities would not have been hasty and announced that millions of dollars worth of domestically produced weapons had been exported? This is the first.
Secondly, when Armenia was still signing arms supply contracts with France and India and no weapons had been supplied yet, French and Indian sources leaked, and we wrote every time that Armenia had to set a condition so that there would be no early declassifications, which the BTA minister mentioned above, that they do not have permission from the parties to the deal to publish detailed data.
In this context, at the press conference mentioned above, Mkhitar Hayrapetyan did not ignore the question of whether this is the first case of arms export from Armenia, because there are reports that 10 years ago we had exports to Italy and Poland.
“In the bases of the high-tech industry and the Ministries of Defense, at least at the moment, there is no such information. I can say from the information that I have, yes, there was an export, but it was either civilian or dual-use products, and there was, for example, the export of components of the X system of military products.
For example, conditionally it can be the export of air defense system cells or some components. My statement refers to the export of final military products, which were developed, produced and, as final weapons, exported from Armenia. If there are similar criticisms, then, naturally, I will also expect that if they want, they can at least publicly inform us what weapons were produced in Armenia 10 years ago as a final military product and exported from Armenia. If we don’t present similar facts, I’m sorry, but I will have a legitimate right to think that these are just another bare-bones statements,” said the BTA minister.
Mkhitar Hayrapetyan keeps secret what weapons and ammunition are supplied to the army and what state-of-the-art weapons Pashinyan was talking about in 2020
Through our written request, we also tried to find out from the BTA Ministry with which countries there are contracts to establish a joint military-industrial enterprise, or perhaps already enterprises, and what ammunition and weapons are produced in RA today and supplied to the army.
“We announce that there are certain agreements regarding the establishment of joint military-industrial enterprises with foreign partners and the expansion of directions.
However, taking into account the sensitivity and strategic nature of the processes, it is not appropriate to publish details at this stage.
As for the supply to the RA Armed Forces, the information on the types of weapons, ammunition and their specific quantities supplied to the RA Armed Forces is, according to the RA Law “On State Secrets”, a state secret and is not subject to publication. Therefore, guided by Article 8, Part 1, Clause e of the RA Law “On Freedom of Information”, the provision of the mentioned information is refused.»,- responded from the department.
It should be noted that a few months ago, Armen Khachatryan, a member of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security of the National Assembly, during one of the interviews had announced or perhaps reveal that: «we have serial production զենք՝ artillery, which in the world the best is․ that supplied is RA: to the army.” There have been other similar leaks. Moreover, tomorrow is a military parade and the arsenal of the RA Armed Forces will be shown, where there are also weapons of domestic production.
In addition, we reminded the Ministry of Education and Culture of the following statements made during Nikol Pashinyan’s live Facebook broadcast on April 7, 2020. the statement.
“I want to hint at a news that is actually a secret. A few days ago, I was shown a sample of the products of the military-industrial complex of Armenia, the existence of which proves that the military-industrial complex in Armenia is reaching a new level. The most important feature of this sample is not only that it is a state-of-the-art product, but that it was assembled from scratch in Armenia.”
After 6 years, we asked Mkhitar Hayrapetyan what it was about, whether it was brought to the finish line, but he avoided a specific answer.
“The public will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the capabilities and achievements of the products of the national military-industrial complex, including the latest developments and samples, during the festive military parade on May 28, as well as during the two-day high-tech exhibition RISE Powered by Silicon Mountains 2026, which will take place on June 3 and 4 at the Karen Demirchyan Sports Concert Complex,” the Minister of BTA concluded.
“Lyubava-Armenia” company was first renamed, then temporarily stopped its activity
In any case, we will also try to get an answer to our question from the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia within the framework of the mentioned measures, if, of course, they do not avoid a specific answer again.
And we also asked the Ministry of BTA other questions through our written request, for example, is the AK-103 Kalashnikov assault rifle assembly workshop based on the base of the “Neutron GAM” CJSC factory functioning, as well as what is the current stage of the bullet production belonging to Davit Galstyan’s company, and why was the Armenian-Polish factory closed?Lubava–Armenia:” the enterprise.
“First of all, we inform you that the companies mentioned in the survey are not registered in the summary list (register) of the activities of the Military Industrial Complex (MIC), therefore the RA Ministry of High-Tech Industry does not have any information about their activities, workshops or contact information.
to the information. As for the other part of the question, then? the company mentioned in the survey was not closed, but was renamed. Currently, the company has temporarily suspended its operations due to lack of orders.”
It should be noted that there was information that after the change of power in 2018, the company “Lyubava-Armenia” stopped its activities. in 2019 from the Ministry of High-tech Industry 168.amto had reported that “the decision to stop the activity of “Lyubava-Armenia” in the Republic of Armenia is determined solely by economic circumstances.”
Later NEWS.amIn a conversation with the former Ambassador of Poland to Armenia Jerzy Nowakowski presented other reasons for the liquidation of the Armenian enterprise of the Polish company Lubawa SA.
“The Armenian revolution of 2018 inspired hope for activation of “Lyubava” and strengthening of business cooperation.
In the end, “Lyubavan” decided to leave Armenia after a meeting with Pashinyan, during which he accused the company of cooperating with the former government and said that the company cannot expect the trust of the new, “revolutionary” team,” Yezhi Nowakovsky told the media.
As for what name “Lyubava-Armenia” got later, what company it is about when they say that it was renamed, the Ministry of BTA avoided giving information, but the fact is that the renamed company is not working at least at the moment.
Let us add that “Lyubava-Armenia”, the first joint Armenian-Polish military-industrial enterprise, has been operating in Armenia since 2014 and was engaged in the production of modern multifunctional camouflage technologies, producing such products of military and technical significance as: false targets, technical and other tents, helmets, body armor, camouflage nets, etc., and all this in accordance with NATO standards.
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