How many Indian antidrones can Armenia buy? Military expert Nersisyan answers

Zen Anti-Drone System (ZADS), which, according to media reports, Armenia will buy from India, is a mobile system.

It is mounted on a vehicle and works specifically against drones. It differs from Russia's Krasukha system, which works on the enemy's locators, military expert Leonid Nersisyan told Armenian media, Caliber.Az reports.

The point of Zen Anti-Drone System is that they need a lot of them, and they should be distributed rather densely along the front, he explained.

The expert said that the experience of using the system in combat conditions is not known, so it is difficult to judge its real effectiveness.

"But if we believe the presented characteristics, the system is good," he added.

Nersisyan pointed out the importance of the weapon being well-studied before purchase.

The expert said that the complex consists of several elements: an optoelectronic target detection station, a target detection radar and an electronic warfare system.

In addition, there is a tire to which anti-aircraft artillery, if available, can be attached. If desired, an Indian system can also be purchased, or weapons from other countries can be adapted to it.

"The Russian analogue of this weapon is the Repellent system, which the Armenian side has previously purchased. But, as is often the case with Russian equipment, it is very bulky, large. At the same time, the effectiveness of its use during the 44-day war was quite low.

The Pole 21 system (this system was destroyed by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces during the 44-day war and anti-terrorist activities in Karabakh - ed.), which jammed the GPS channels of the drones, was used slightly more effectively. Russia is not the strongest player in this type of weaponry," Nersisyan emphasized.

In his opinion, quite a lot of Indian anti-drones will be purchased.

"There is no information about the price in open sources, but I can assume that 20-40 systems can be bought for the mentioned amount. If we work properly, the purchased French radars can be brought together into a unified command post system with the Indian ZADS. Soviet radars can also be combined into this system. These are solvable tasks," the expert concluded.

Earlier, the media wrote that Armenia signed a contract with India for the purchase of ZADS (Zen Anti-Drone System) for $41.5 million.

On the Indian side, the agreement was signed by representatives of Zen Technologies from Hyderabad. The company will provide both the system itself and train operators to work with it.