The Regional Center for Democracy and Security (RCDS) has published a new report by Louis-Mathieu Tartinville and Eduard Arakelyan, Towards an Asymmetric Defense Model: Building a Layered Drone Capability in Armenia.
The report examines Armenia’s military transformation and argues that, given the country’s structural disadvantage vis-à-vis Azerbaijan, conventional military parity is neither realistic nor sustainable. Instead, Armenia should pursue an asymmetric deterrence model centered on unmanned systems, precision strike, electronic warfare, mobility, and domestic defense production.
Drawing on the experiences of Ukraine and Iran, the authors propose a layered drone architecture covering the contact line, operational depth, and strategic strike capabilities. They also assess Armenia’s emerging domestic drone industry and identify key capability gaps that remain to be addressed.
The report highlights France as a key potential partner for developing medium- and long-range capabilities, arguing that the Armenia-France Strategic Partnership should move beyond procurement toward technology transfer, local assembly, and joint production.
The authors conclude that Armenia’s objective should be to build a defense ecosystem capable of continuously producing, adapting, and replenishing military capabilities, rather than relying primarily on one-time acquisitions.
Read the report: