Indian Defence Secretary, Rajesh Kumar Singh, visited Armenia and held bilateral meetings with Armenian Deputy Defence Minister, Mr Karen Brutyan, and First Deputy Defence Minister and Chief of General Staff, Mr Edward Asryan.

The dicussions during the visit from August 17-18, 2026, included the ongoing defence and military technical cooperation, with particular emphasis on capacity building, training, military technical cooperation and defence research and development (R&D), an MoD statement said. 

The two sides also exchanged the Terms of Reference for institutionalising Joint Services Staff Talks between the Indian and Armenian Armed Forces.

The Defence Secretary called on Mr Davit Tradevosyan, Minister of Hi-tech Industry of Armenia, and exchanged views on proposals relating to defence research and development. 

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two Defence Ministries to expand cooperation in the fields of joint collaboration, innovation and research was concluded and signed, it said.

Mr Singh also called on Mr Suren Papikyan, Minister of Defence of Armenia. Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen India-Armenia defence cooperation and discussed new avenues for enhancing cooperation in military technical cooperation.

As part of the visit, the Defence Secretary visited the Armenian Military Academy named after Vazgen Sargasyan and interacted with the Head and faculty members of the Academy. He also had a fruitful meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, Mr Mnatsakan Safaryan, in Yerevan, it added. 

As Armenia seeks to diversify its defence procurement, India has emerged as a major partner in military technical cooperation.