We Must Increase Private Involvement in the Defense Industry: Hovhannisyan

I am completely convinced, and there are intelligence data-based grounds and military logic for this, that the war was planned within the framework of 1-2 operations, which lasts 15-20 days. This was stated by Armenian Ministry of Defense representative Artur Hovhannisyan during a webinar titled "Economy in Wartime" on the YouTube channel "Dry Marketing," as reported by NEWS.am.

“It is not difficult to understand that the enemy, confidently having such a large potential – Turkish, terrorist, mercenaries, with immense technical advantages – did not plan to fight for 40 days and liberate certain areas, particularly a partial region – the Araks Valley. They did not aim to fly from this village to that village daily suffering losses and not being able to achieve success, remaining with dreams about Shushi. The result that Azerbaijan has recorded, and yes, we have retreated in some places, was not included in Turkey's main headquarters' plans. I am fully confident of this and there are intelligence grounds and military logic for it. The war was planned for 1-2 operations within a timeframe of 15-20 days, and I am sure that even if the southern regions of the Republic of Armenia were not included in their plans, they did have a plan to take Artsakh completely,” Hovhannisyan said, adding that the enemy intended to quickly complete military operations considering several factors.

“The date of the Kars agreement, weather conditions, U.S. elections – millions of factors were calculated, but this did not happen. Moreover, as many Russian experts have already admitted, and many used to speak differently before, Azerbaijan's offensive potential in ground components has been stifled. They are trying to continue with small groups through separate attacks, using a pixelated warfare strategy, and move forward. Here, as we see, for a week now they have had no success. This means there is no significant achievement, and already in their social networks, people were telling Aliyev: enough, we are tired of hearing the list of "liberated" villages from Jabrayil and Zangelan for the fourth time. All of this is already our victory,” he noted.

Addressing the main theme of the webinar, Hovhannisyan indicated that private involvement in the defense industry must be increased. According to him, the defense industries of states that are successful are those that involve the private sector.

“State subsidies are certainly very important because in strategic sectors it is necessary to provide funds for several years without expecting quick results. However, even in trials, large businessmen must be involved, and we need to convince people about how wealthy individuals invest in startups. If a startup is in the information sector, everyone believes they will reach a peak in ten years, bringing in millions. Different sectors of the defense industry also need to be turned into startups, businesses should know that they will invest money for five more years and ultimately have a very serious technology company that will access a large market,” he said.

In response to a remark about whether the Turkish "Bayraktar" UAV is a product of a private company, Hovhannisyan responded: “Of course, it is produced by Erdoğan's son-in-law; the volumes of state subsidies have been enormous from the beginning, but today it is a private company.” According to Hovhannisyan, after the war, business support must be directed more than ever toward the army until its “wounds are healed.”

“We all understand perfectly well that after the war, much will be re-evaluated, and we will correct our mistakes. The success of truly free value-system-based states and societies lies in the collective acknowledgment of mistakes and working on eliminating shortcomings. In this case, separate business unions need to take on a direction, and each of the major industrialists should take a direction for rearmament and equipment modernization, so that we move forward with revolutionary steps,” Hovhannisyan noted.

As a business idea, Hovhannisyan suggested production of all types of flying vehicles, which he claimed is a promising sector. “Since I have studied this sector very deeply, I can say the associated effects that businesses can engage with and this would be very useful. In Armenia, the tourism for small sports aircraft is at a zero state; there were issues with the air in the past, but now those have been overcome. Fortunately, some of my colleagues had brought a few aircraft before the war. If a company engages in this area, starting with UAVs then moving on to small piloted devices, today they are preparing so-called soft-wing small aircraft, which are very light and inexpensive, flying from the smallest platforms in mountainous areas. This relates to tourism, sports, and state security; all those aerial platforms that have been built are becoming a strategic logistics network,” he noted.