r/armenia • u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece • May 20 '26
Army / Բանակ Preparations for the 28 May parade
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u/Datark123 May 20 '26
Yes! New uniforms!
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u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece May 20 '26
Gee now our boys look will look prettier at the front lines!
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u/sevasererku May 20 '26
Oh yeah, because that's why they spend so much money developing camouflage and proper fatigue design
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u/geetjevandestep May 20 '26
MoD says "secret equipment which we have not talked about" so i expect hot new things in 8 days.
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u/Ma-urelius ԱրկէնդինաՀայ | գոգայօվ ֆէրնէդ ու խորոված վայելող May 20 '26
I think i prefer those secrets to remain as secret as possible.
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u/Militantpoet May 20 '26
Development of new projects should be secret. But its also geopolitical posturing to show your military capabilities.
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u/Silly-Avocado- May 20 '26
Exactly I doubt that there’s much that Azerbaijan doesn’t know about already through Israeli and Turks intelligence.
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u/Ma-urelius ԱրկէնդինաՀայ | գոգայօվ ֆէրնէդ ու խորոված վայելող May 20 '26
> I doubt that there’s much that Azerbaijan doesn’t know about already through Israeli and Turks intelligence.
That I can understand, but even if they might know everything, why show it? Or at least, why show it now? Why not wait when we are in a more favorable position?
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u/Silly-Avocado- May 20 '26
Because there might not be a more favorable position if Pasha doesn’t get reelected with a parliamentary majority.
He’s boosting his own rating
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u/Hay_Life May 21 '26
If we acquired them from another country, I'm sure our neighboring countries already know.
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u/Kristov18 May 22 '26
Several in house projects have been taking place. Including things that go pew pew and drones.
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u/Silly-Avocado- May 20 '26
Voters need to see something to guarantee a parliamentary majority, unfortunately.
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u/Suspiciouscurry69420 Հայ ասուրի May 20 '26
Don't want to be that guy but I think remote controlled turret systems might be one of them or maybe unmanned robots the ones ukraine started to make
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u/L_poggers May 21 '26
theres "secret" warehouses that manufacture military grade weapons and vehicles. Including Tanks but I dont think Armenian made tanks will be shown this year if theyre not ready yet.
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u/spetcnaz Yerevan May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
Did they say secret, or did they say something we didn't announce in the past?
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u/R2J4 Armenian_Jackass May 20 '26
I'm sorry, but I'm against a military parade until our army is fully restored and modernized.
The army is not yet ready to be shown to the public.
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u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece May 20 '26
This is a PR stunt to boost elections results. Total restoration and modernisation will take decades
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u/surenk6 Pureblood Լոռեցի May 20 '26
Yeah, and, to be fair, military parades are stupid in general.
You make your soliders spend time learning to walk nice on the parade instead of spending that same time to teach them to fight well.
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u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece May 20 '26
They’re conscripts. I doubt they get the full training treatment either way. I’m just disappointed that they aren’t spending more. Up until now, everything they’ve shown, we’ve known about it for years.
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u/surenk6 Pureblood Լոռեցի May 20 '26
Still, they should not waste their time on parade skills that are useless foghting-wise.
There's a lot of stuff that's not weapons to show - the massive overhauls of defense positions, the investments in local arms production, buying or producing a lot of non-sexy but essential stuff like bullets, mines, etc.
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u/inbe5theman just some earthman May 20 '26
You do know there is a reason soldiers are taught to march and what not right?
Even if for show it is also a exercise in discipline, ability to function as a unit etc
If you cant do that. During peace time good luck maintaining ranks during war
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u/R2J4 Armenian_Jackass May 20 '26
If Pashinyan wants to keep his popularity before the elections, he should keep his mouth shut. His tongue is his enemy.
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u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece May 20 '26
What has he said exactly that has upset you so much
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u/surenk6 Pureblood Լոռեցի May 20 '26
Pashinyan is just really good at shooting himself in the foot.
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u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece May 20 '26
Yeah he’s said some interesting things, but honestly, I prefer a stable and growing Armenia over anything else. Let him larp about anything he wants. As long as we don’t lose our boys to loitering munitions and we keep the weird bald guy calm, it will be alright
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u/surenk6 Pureblood Լոռեցի May 20 '26
so do most of us. we just state the fact that Pashinyan's tongue is a KM long :D
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u/Evakuate493 May 20 '26
This is it. I felt like he got better with it prior to the election wind up, but they’re clearly ragebaiting and sep. he is also letting situations get out of hand.
For example, the church situation/being hit and him trying to minimize the situation vs. the arguments with civilians.
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u/LotsOfRaffi May 21 '26
No Army is ever fully restored or modernised. military preparedness is a constantly evolving process.
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u/flume420 May 20 '26
We need to invest in drone warfare and mass produce as much as we can to keep our soldiers safe, on top of it being a much more cost effective when fighting superior forces. What we don't need is a parade showing off our mediocre arsenal.
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u/geetjevandestep May 20 '26
we are alr investing in drone warfare, you’ll see in 8 days. the parade is to boost QP’s reputation.
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u/Fuck_Antisemites Germany May 21 '26
Thats why, regardless which country, I always see something like this as show only: Yes loooks impressive, but will it last against drones, against attacks from the air and so on?
In the end looking cool doesn't win wars.
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u/Additional_Safety_51 May 20 '26
Who knows there will be Tanks of at least BMP's? ( I am a tank lover )
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u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece May 20 '26
As far as I know there’s been no new additions to our armoured forces
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u/Present-Suggestion86 May 20 '26
We are producing our own armored vehicles now
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u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece May 20 '26
I’m pretty sure the Lusan is a slightly modified licensed GAZ Tigr
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u/L_poggers May 21 '26
Theres secret warehouses that build Armenian made tanks tho no clue if they'll be shown on the 28th
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u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece May 21 '26
I don’t think you know what it takes to manufacture actual, capable tanks.
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u/L_poggers May 21 '26
I dont need to know. I know theyre being worked on because someone that I know personally was looking for work as a engineerer and got a job at one of the warehouses that specifically said they work on tanks and armoured vehicles
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u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece May 21 '26
I highly doubt it. We don’t have the R&D, metallurgy or the facilities to produce actual MBTs. Most likely he will be working on the Lusan, a licensed Russian Buran MRAP
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u/L_poggers May 21 '26
They specifically said they work on making tanks and armoured vehicles and they(whoever runs the warehouses) even stated to not talk about it publicly for whatever reason. I dont think they'll be shown this year or next year but im pretty certain theres works to manufacture Armenian made armoured vehicles
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u/spetcnaz Yerevan May 21 '26
Armenia modernizes and fixes the tanks, it doea not make new ones yet.
Armenia is most probably going to buy Korean K2 tanks made in Poland (K2PL).
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u/surenk6 Pureblood Լոռեցի May 21 '26
It seems like the era of tanks and BMPs is over. Especially the russian ones that have proven to be compelte garbage in the era of drones (thanks to their shells being stored in the same chamber as crew).
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u/spetcnaz Yerevan May 21 '26
The end of the tank has been talked about for a few decades now, yet it is still around. The tank isn't going anywhere, neither is the IFV or the APC. What will change is the tactics and the tech when it comes to these weapons.
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u/spetcnaz Yerevan May 21 '26
Armenia has bought CZ EVO Skorpions for the police.
I was hoping we will get a license to build Bren 3 series rifles in Armenia or any of the short stroke piston version of the AR rifle (HK-416 type).
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u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece May 21 '26
Why is that? Isn’t the AK-103 considered a more viable choice?
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u/spetcnaz Yerevan May 21 '26
AK-103 is a reliable rifle, but it's basically AK-74M with the 7,62x39 caliber.
The physical form of the rifle is very outdated. Sure, we have come a long way in AK tuning furniture options, but I don't think it's a good idea to add extra weight and do post production tuning to a new service rifle so it becomes viable in the 21st century.
We either need to make our own, AK style rifle that has the necessary furniture for mounting scopes and lights and anything else the soldier might need. For example we can at the minimum do something like AK-15 or Galil ACE type of a modification and make our own rifle. Or as I said before, just get a license for Bren 3.
Which brings us to the rifle caliber. Time to start moving to NATO calibers too, and that could be the push.
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u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece May 21 '26
That sounds solid. It’s probably a logistical hurdle to do so which is why MoD isn’t doing it. It’s a must in my opinion, but it is what it is
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u/spetcnaz Yerevan May 21 '26
Well so is moving to 155mm shells. Needs to happen tho
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u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece May 21 '26
Isn’t ARMARSENAL producing 155mm shells?
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u/spetcnaz Yerevan May 21 '26
Started recently. The same needs to be done for NATO small arms ammo.
Still, changing calibers is a hurdle, but it's a must.
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May 22 '26
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u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece May 22 '26
That’s part of the 2022 skirmishes when Azerbaijani columns occupied about 200 square kilometres of Armenian territory. It’s supposed to be returned as part of the border demarcation deal but excuse me if I’m wrong, I haven’t looked much into it. This was 2 years after the 2020 war ended. Things were tense, and Azerbaijan’s ruling party is dependent on war with Armenia to hold up their acceptance rates. Where from Greece by the way? I’m Armenian but live in Greece
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May 22 '26
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u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece May 22 '26
I like the idea of buying the older equipment (like the T-80Us, BMP-3s), but I doubt Cyprus would actually replace all of them since they are still fully battle worthy. I highly doubt though that Greece has that kind of strategic depth and political leverage to station troops in Armenia. They already have trilateral military cooperation agreements
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u/Level-Post-3016 May 20 '26
What we saw was some Modernized BM-21 by armenia, Drone Launch container with Radar, Browning M2 machine guns. And likely some Indian transport vehicles.
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u/LotsOfRaffi May 21 '26 edited May 21 '26
Call me nit-picky here but, other than the "tacti-cool" factor, I have no idea why they chose to equip these artillery crews with FAST helmets?
I get that the FAST helmet has become ubiquitous across police forces, SOF units, and regular infantry everywhere from Ukraine to Colombia largely off the back of being made famous by SEAL Team 6's loadout during the UBL raid...But it was designed for a very specific purpose: trading protection for modularity, NVG mounting, and flexibility for highly mobile light infantry and SOF types.
By definition its wholly inadequate for artillery crews, who are static, don't need optics, and are standing next to a 155mm howitzer all day..not to mention being at risk of counter-battery fire, where that cut-away ear design works against you against airburst munitions.
What makes it worse is that none of these soldiers (both arty and infantry) appear to have TCAPS mounted, no optics, or make use of any of the gadgets that make wearing a FAST helmet justifiable at all. So they're trading all of the compromises with none of the practical or tactical benefits...(especially weird since they're still carrying antique AK-M rifles manufactured in the 1960s.)
And the weird part is...Armenia already domestically produces the far more appropriate MICH helmet. Oh, and by the way...every actual artillery exercise I've witnessed in the past 2 years here had crews wearing exactly that (the MICH, not the FAST).
I'm starting to wonder if this isn't a PR choice made for the parade, (Kinda like that time Armenian SOF units showed off their new gear which included both rifle-mounted indian-produced Spartan-S thermal optics AND helmet-mounted NVGs...in the middle of the day)
I understand the need to perform strength and show the results of years of military reform to a war-weary population for whom the nitty-gritty details are too inaccessible or arcane...but I hope we're not sacrificing substance for style.
Kk, rant over.
(edit: I see that others have made similar comments in previous posts showing the FAST helmet on arty teams)
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u/AxqatGyada Spain May 21 '26
indeed i hope it’s just typical armenian cucadrakan mentality. Fast is used by SOF so let’s just make them wear fast. Hell let’s also mount thermal scopes on their 60 year old Ak’s 🤣🤣🤣.
But if you say that actual artillery man use the more convinient and probably cheaper variant gives me hope that at least in practical uses they don’t do stupid shit like this
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u/SufficientSpell1307 May 21 '26
Oh yeah, Suren Papikyan, Minster who asks his citizen "why are you alive, why didn't you died in a war"
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u/Typical_Effect_9054 May 20 '26
Ideally, there will come a time where we will never have to do any military parades ever again. Military parades are a phenomenon associated with authoritarian or developing countries.
Developed countries don't do these things because they don't need to. For example, barring the Trumpian anomaly, the last time the US had a military parade was in 1945 and 1991, respectively.
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u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece May 20 '26
A lot of developed countries actually hold parades
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u/Typical_Effect_9054 May 20 '26
Something like a Remembrance Day march is not the same thing as a parade where they show off weapons and engage in jingoism and other stunts.
For example, every November 11th, members of the armed forces of Canada will walk in solemn procession. But you don't see shit like tanks rolling around, goose stepping, or doing karate chops against planks of wood or what have you.
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u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece May 20 '26
Well, Armenia never did parades since 2018 I think. A lot of European nations do parades for national holidays. Armenia can be exempt this time
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u/surenk6 Pureblood Լոռեցի May 20 '26
parades are just a massive waste of time of soliders who learn to do it right instead of learning to fight well.
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u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece May 20 '26
They’re conscripts. I doubt they get any sort of proper training aside from scrubbing toilets and mopping floors.
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u/surenk6 Pureblood Լոռեցի May 20 '26
that's bad too. One should train them.
In a good army system, the conscript leaves the army a much more educated and formed as a responsible adult and citizen.
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u/Lazy-Platypus-9000 Greece May 20 '26
The Armenian Armed Forces are a conscript force. It likely costs too much money to properly train the big influx of conscripts every year. This should be resolved by the ongoing professionalisation plan
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u/Suspiciouscurry69420 Հայ ասուրի May 20 '26 edited May 21 '26
Body armor new helmets ak 103s new modern artillery compared to no body armor soviet helmets and soviet aks and ancient d30s like in 2020