Armenia and France discuss developing military-industrial cooperation

Minister of High-Tech Industry Mkhitar Hayrapetyan has met with Emmanuel Chiva, the chief executive of the French Defence Procurement Agency (DGA). During the meeting, they discussed ‘prospects for developing military-industrial cooperation’.

The meeting took place on 4 March, as part of Hayrapetyan’s visit to France.

According to the DGA’s website, the company ‘leads the design of defence systems as well as armament operations, using its centres of trials and expertise’.

The Armenian side reported that the discussion was focused on the ‘prospects for developing military-industrial cooperation, [...] opportunities for initiating technological exchange programmes, matters pertaining to the development of defence technologies in Armenia and other topics’.

In October 2023, Armenia and France signed bilateral military cooperation deals to provide weaponry, including radar and anti-air systems to Armenia, when Armenia’s Defence Minister Suren Papikyan and the French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu met in Paris. France has also dispatched a military attaché to the French embassy in Yerevan.

Azerbaijan has continuously criticised Armenia’s arm acquisitions despite procuring arms of its own and expanding its defence budget and capabilities, claiming that, among other things, Armenia’s armament ‘remain[s] a major obstacle to the peace process’.

Earlier this year, in January, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated that Armenia ‘must immediately stop arming’.

‘France and other countries that provide it with weapons must terminate and cancel these contracts. The weapons that have already been sent to Armenia must be returned’, he said.

The Armenian authorities have continued to foster security ties with the West and other countries, after both Russia and the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) failed to send assistance during Azerbaijani incursions into Armenia in 2021 and 2022.

Yerevan has also been critical of Moscow’s failure to commit to weapons deals, having purchased military supplies from Russia in 2021 but only receiving the first batch of the agreed-upon supplies in January 2024.In January 2025, Papikyan said that an agreement was reached between the Finance Ministries of Armenia and Russia, according to which the amount paid by Armenia for weapons would be deducted from the interstate debt.