Yerevan /Mediamax/. Head of Military Aviation Institute of Defense Ministry Colonel Daniel Balayan responded today to articles about prospects of designing and producing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in Armenia.

“Defense Ministry didn’t disrupt cooperation with several companies, but simply froze it. The reason is that as a rule, a price presented at the beginning differs from the final one, which is substantially higher for no significat reason. Naturally, we rejected such offers,” Colonel Daniel Balayan said to Mediamax.

Krunk unmanned aerial vehicles of Armenian Army’s arsenal are designed and produced by constructor subdivisions of Armenian Defense Ministry, which often provided advice for companies and individuals that develop UAVs.

Daniel Balayan

Photo: www.hayzinvor.am

“Defense Ministry is still ready to continue cooperation with companies, if their offers conform to Army requirements and are in a reasonable price scale. This is Defense Ministry’s approach to the subject: to work with Armenian companies when possible in order to modernize military industry. It will keep military spending within the country, develop modern technologies, create jobs and allow us to design new devices based on previous models,” Colonel Daniel Balayan told Mediamax.

Head of Military Aviation Institute of Defense Ministry also touched upon Armenian Krunk UAV that was first demonstrated during the military parade in 2012.

“The price for 1 complex of such drones (2 planes, 1 controller) on the global market is USD 2-2.5 million. Armenia managed to create Krunk on its own and with far lesser expenses, and it is largely used in Armenian Army. Tactical and technical characteristics of our drone match those of its analogues,” said Daniel Balayan.