The leader of Armenia could have known about the "10%" effectiveness of the Iskander only from the military and political power of Azerbaijan. Former Commander of the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Defense Army, and former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and former Chief Military Inspector of Armenia, Colonel General Movses Hakobyan, stated this Thursday during a program on an Armenian television, referring the PM Nikol Pashinyan’s statement about the alleged flaw of the Russian-made Iskander ballistic missile system.
"The fact that he announces the ‘10%’ effectiveness of the Iskander; these data could have been given to him by the adversary: Azerbaijan. It is ruled out that anyone else will be able to give him these data because the Iskander was fired at the adversary; it fired a missile that causes hundreds of explosions. Moreover, the day of its use was cloudy, and it was not possible to observe the results of the explosions from afar. Only the military and political power of Azerbaijan can provide these data to the head of the country—moreover, after a long work by the sappers. Maybe the announcement so late is connected with the fact that they were clarifying how much it exploded.
But in theory, the missile that was used—and I know what missile was used—consists of several hundred missiles which fire separate hits when they reached the target. Theoretically, it is possible, but since the Iskander and the missile have the ability to check before using whether the missiles inside are combat-ready or not. It is impossible for the missiles not to explode. It is incomprehensible to me why the prime minister [of Armenia] made such statements. As far as I know, three missiles were fired in the last days of the [recent Artsakh] war," said Hakobyan.
According to him, there is an interstate agreement between the Armenian-Russian sides, according to which the Russian side is obliged to check the combat-readiness of the Iskander. "Being the former head of the General Staff [of the Armed Forces of Armenia], I can say that the Russian specialists came, carried out a technical inspection, and assessed the combat-readiness. We have an interstate agreement; if the weapon shows a malfunction, they must come and fix it. There is a contract; that’s why no problem arises. (…). If you do not service the weapon, it may not fire," added Movses Hakobyan.
