Armenia could mount other weapons on Su-30 jets – ex-military official

PanARMENIAN.Net - Armenia could use the Su-30SM fighter jets purchased from Russia before the war in Nagorno-Karabakh with weapons available at hand, Colonel-General Movses Hakobyan, former chief of the General Staff of the Armenian Armed Forces, said on Tuesday, March 23.

The former military official's comments came after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan admitted that the Su-30SM aircraft purchased from Russia before the war had no missiles.

Hakobyan urged the creation of a commission for studying the reasons for the Armenian side's defeat in the Karabakh war in order to find out the truth.

According to him, the authorities explanation that they "did not have time" to acquire missiles is "childish". "The SU-30SM planes could have been used with the weapons available at hand, why didn't they do it?" Hakobyan said, also questioning why ammunition used by the country's aviation was not used either.

In addition, Hakobyan insisted again that the Armenian side did fire from Iskander systems during the war.

Officials in Armenia, including Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, weighed in on the alleged use of the missile system in Karabakh, first claiming that the missiles were indeed fired, then backing off on their own statements. Immediately after the war, Hakobyan gave a press conference and said the Iskander had been used, and he has not changed his mind since.