As it is known, Armenian state authorities are reluctant to pulish figures related to the personnel and the technical resources of the RA Armed Forces. For that reason, \u201cUnion of Informed Citizens\u201d NGO has decided to publish some not classified information related to the number of the armed forces of Armenia, Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) and Azerbaijan, which the RA Ministry of Defense refuses to publish.<\/p>\n
CFE<\/strong><\/p>\n Armenia has been member of the Treaty<\/a> on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe since 1990s. The treaty regulates issues related to arms control. Within the framework of the treaty, foreign military inspectorates have visited Armenia numerous times, and Armenian specialists have carried out inspections in a number of other countries (Turkey, Greece, Great Britain, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Moldova, and etc.).<\/p>\n Under the treaty, states are obliged to submit reports related to the number and distribution of conventional arms (both personnel and technical resources).<\/p>\n Based on the proposal by the Armenian Ministry of Defense, we have examined the 2017 report prepared based on the CFE member countries\u2019 reports, which we have used to compile the information below (all data as of the beginning of 2017).<\/p>\n We will also try to highlight the data that have changed compared to 2016. The changed data are in italics.<\/em><\/p>\n Armenia and Artsakh<\/strong><\/p>\n Number:<\/strong> According to the report, the overall number of Armenian servicemen is 44.800, 41.850 out of which are ground forces (the rest serve in the air force and air defense). The total number of recruits in the ground forces is 18.950.<\/p>\n In the report on Nagorno Karabakh Republic, the numbers are not completely unambiguous since NKR is not a member of CFE and, hence, is not accountable to it. Nevertheless, according to the report, the number of the armed forces of Nagorno Karabakh is between 18 and 20 thousand.<\/p>\n However, the report assumes and we do not rule out that part of the armed forces personnel and equipment may be included in the numbers presented for the Armenian armed forces. This is also confirmed by the circumstance that during the 2017 parliamentary elections, there were only around 21.000 people in part of the lists of voters doing the compulsory military service and the contractual servicemen. Meanwhile, that list should have included around 19 thousand voters doing compulsory military service and about 5 thousand contractual servicemen.<\/p>\n Hence, we can conclude that part of the 42 thousand servicemen mentioned in the report were in Nagorno Karabakh or served there (Armed Forces of NKR).<\/p>\n Thus, the total number of Armenia\u2019s and Nagorno Karabakh\u2019s ground forces probably amounts to 50-55 thousand servicemen.<\/p>\n Another 4300 servicemen serve in the RA Police and in the border troops.<\/p>\n Structure:<\/strong> The Armed Forces of Armenia are composed of:<\/p>\n Armaments: <\/strong>According to the report, the Armed Forces of Armenia have:<\/p>\n It is noteworthy that the report does not include the two \u201cSmerch\u201d multiple rocket launchers shown during the military parade in Yerevan in September 2016. <\/em> During the <\/em>recent year, 4 \u201cIskander\u201d<\/a> type missile systems were added. <\/em><\/p>\n Azerbaijan<\/strong><\/p>\n Number:<\/strong> According to the report, the total number of servicemen in the armed forces of Azerbaijan is 66.950, 56.850 out of which are ground forces, 7.900 are the air force and air defense forces and 2.200 serve in the navy.<\/p>\n There are 5.000 servicemen in the border troops (including coastal troops) of Azerbaijan. Furthermore, the police forces have about 10.000 personnel.<\/p>\n Structure: <\/strong>The Armed Forces of Azerbaijan (ground forces) are composed of 5 army corps commands, which include 23 motorized infantry brigades. Besides, there are 2 artillery, 1 rocket-artillery, 1 anti-tank, 1 engineer, 1 security, 1 signal and 1 logistics brigades. Armaments:<\/strong> According to the report, the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan have:<\/p>\n In the artillery armament, there are also 148 mortars of 120 mm diameter, 36 out of which are self-propelled armored \u201cNona-C<\/a>\u201d and \u201cVena<\/a>\u201d systems.<\/p>\n It is worth noting once again that all the data are as of beginning of 2017 and are considered open (not classified) information.<\/p>\n Union of Informed Citizens<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As it is known, Armenian state authorities are reluctant to pulish figures related to the personnel and the technical resources of the RA Armed Forces. For that reason, \u201cUnion of Informed Citizens\u201d NGO has decided to publish some not classified information related to the number of the armed forces of Armenia, Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2149],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-useful-resources"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n
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\nThere are additional 250-300 artillery systems in possessed by the Armed Forces of Nagorno Karabakh Republic. Among them, 40-50 are BM-21 \u201cGrad\u201d multiple rocket launchers.<\/p>\n\n
\nIt is worth noting that though not mentioned in the report, the 2016 military parade makes it clear that Armenia\u2019s air defense also possesses \u201cBuk<\/a>\u201d missile systems. <\/em><\/li>\n
\nThe air force and the navy of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Azerbaijan are separated. The navy has one reconnaissance brigade of marine troops.<\/p>\n\n
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\nThe Armed Forces of Azerbaijan also possess \u201cIgla-1<\/a>\u201d and \u201cIgla-C\u201d portable air defense systems.<\/li>\n