India to export weapons worth Rs 2000 cr to Armenia amid border conflict with Azerbaijan

New Delhi, Sep 29: India has signed a deal with Armenia to supply weapons worth Rs 2,000 crore amid escalation border tensions with Azerbaijan. It has signed deals that include a number of contracts with Armenia for the supply of ammunition, missiles, and rockets.

 

 

It also includes the first-ever export of Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher systems by India. Designed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation, Pinaka MBRLs are manufactured by private sector defense companies.

 

 

Armenia will also receive ammunition and anti-tank rockets from India. This is not the first time India is exporting defence equipment to Armenia. In 2020, the country signed a deal with India for the purchase of four Swathi weapon locating radars. The deal was significant because Russian and Polish vendors were also in the race to sell radars to Armenia.

 

It is pertinent to mention that Armenia is fighting Azerbaijan which is backed by countries like Pakistan and has received weapons from Rawalpindi. Pakistan's relations with Azerbaijan have been close over the last few decades, so much so that Islamabad refuses to recognize Armenia to this day.

 

Turkey, another country that has lent support to Pakistan's territorial revisionism in Kashmir, supports Azerbaijan in the conflict. Amid tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2021, India had sided with the former. Without naming Azerbaijan, New Delhi had told the country to "pull back forces immediately and cease any further provocation".