India's military industry is notorious in the world, but what is unexpected is that there is really a big wronged person in the world who chooses to pay for India's weapons, and this country is Armenia.
【Indian Rocket Artillery】
Over the course of a few years, Armenia had procured arms contracts from India worth $2 billion, but when Indian weapons arrived on the battlefield, they were reduced to a pile of scrap metal, and even basic use was a problem.
The Great Injustice of Armenia
The fact that Armenia has been pitted by Indian weapons is not a piece of grapevine, but a fact that comes from the personal acknowledgment of Armenia's former defense minister, Arshak Karapetyan, who served as Armenian defense minister during the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war.
【Nagorno-Karabakh War】
In a recent interview with Armenian journalists, he said that Indian weapons are unusable in the war and are simply unreliable.
Karapetyan looked indignant when he mentioned this, saying that he did not underestimate any country, but in the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, it was a useless pile of scrap metal.
There is nothing Armenian can do, and the Indian producers cannot solve these problems.
[Karapetyan criticizes Indian weapons]
Karapetyan said that he was even a little angry later, saying that the weapons and equipment purchased by Armenia from India, including large-caliber artillery, multiple rocket launchers, air defense systems, etc., are a pile of useless metal garbage, and India has also cheated Armenia with a full $2 billion.
Karapetyan believes that the loss of Indian weapons is also the main reason for the defeat of Armenia.
For a small country like Armenia, $2 billion is definitely not a small amount, and India's weapons are really not cheap.
For example, the WLR artillery radar purchased by Armenia from India in 2019 has a total value of $40 million for 4 radar systems, and the unit price has reached $10 million.
【WLR Radar】
India has also made a fuss about this radar, saying that it uses active phased array technology and has its own high-speed computer to process target information.
But by the time the Armenian army actually threw it into the battlefield, the WLR artillery radar began to pick on it, either with a malfunction in the cooling system or an error in the computer code, in short, it did not work properly.
What's more, it is not one of the Indian radars that has failed, but all four sets of radars that cannot be used because of the failure, which can make the Armenian military so angry that they will immediately ask India to return it.
Unexpectedly, India began to play scoundrels at this time, deducing that the failure of the weapon was due to the Armenian army's own inability to use it, and finally caused damage to the radar, in short, it was unwilling to return the money to Armenia.
【WLR Radar】
After some tugging between the two sides, Armenia saw that there was no hope of returning the money, so it could only pinch its nose and admit that it was unlucky.
The $40 million investment was wasted without any splash.
The catty behind the procurement of weapons
After hearing Karapetyan's answer, the Armenian media also looked very surprised, in the eyes of many Armenian people, Armenia is a former member of the Soviet Union and an old user of Russian-made weapons.
【Armenian Army】
If you don't buy Russian-made weapons with quality assurance, why do the Armenian army and government want to buy unreliable Indian goods?
Moreover, India's arms are notorious in the international market, not only because they are of low quality, but also because they are all deceived and deceived after sale; India has previously sold several Polaris helicopters produced by India to Ecuador, which are also considered to be the star products of India's military exports.
Ecuador probably also thinks that the Polaris helicopter is not a high-tech product, and the quality of India's production of such equipment should still be guaranteed.
【Polaris Helicopter】
But Ecuador did not expect that Indian products immediately showed their nationality characteristics, and just a few days after the arrival of the new plane, a Polaris helicopter crashed during Ecuador's national day celebrations.
India's crisis public relations is a genius, and before the Ecuadorian side came to the door to ask the teacher for the crime, the Indian media first attacked the plane, saying that it was the pilot's mistake that caused the crash of the Polaris helicopter in Ecuador.
Ecuador is more uncomfortable than eating flies, but its international influence is not as good as India's, and Ecuador can only swallow its anger.
【Polaris Helicopter】
However, it is very ironic that four of the Polaris purchased by Ecuador have crashed in just three years, and they must not all be the mistakes of Ecuadorian pilots, right? There must be some kind of design problem in the Polaris, which will cause such a worrying reliability.
The awesomeness of India's military industry lies in the fact that when Indian Prime Minister Modi was observing the Indian military exercises, an Indian-made LCA Tejas fighter plane crashed directly in front of Modi.
There is no need to repeat the jokes made by the Glorious Fighter in the international arena, but it is such a fighter that has become a joke, and India's foreign price has actually reached 80 million US dollars, and I don't know if there is any wronged boss who wants to take over this deal.
【LCA Radial Fighter】
It is said that doing business is based on integrity, but India does business in the opposite way, almost always relying on cheating.
The reason why Armenia was fooled was also because India was blowing the sky, and Armenia really thought that India's military industry was a treasure, and only after paying $2 billion in tuition fees did it recognize the truth about India's military industry.
On the other hand, Azerbaijan, the other side of the Nagorno-Karabakh War, purchased products from Turkey, China and other military industrial powers with a certain reputation, and its performance on the battlefield was very good, occupying advantages many times.
Moreover, on February 21, 2024, Azerbaijan also spent a huge amount of money to introduce the JF-17 Thunder BLOCK3 multi-purpose fighter jointly produced by China and Pakistan, which formed a high and low match with the four Russian-made Su-30SM fighters purchased before.
【Azerbaijan Thunder】
Although there is a huge gap in volume between the Thunder and the Su-30SM, in fact, the Thunder has even more advantages in BVR operations with its superior radar avionics and air-to-air weapons.
In addition to air force equipment, Azerbaijan is also planning to introduce Chinese drone production lines, Chinese-made long-range truck guns and infantry combat vehicles and other ground equipment to further strengthen the combat capability of the Azerbaijani army.
Sources:
[1] India's export of Polaris helicopters to Ecuador has serious defects.Sina.2011-08-05 [Cited 2014-08-24]
[2] Research on the Development of India's Military Industry.JD Books.2023-02-14 [Cited 2023-02-14]