U.S. PROVIDES EQUIPMENT TO ARMENIAN PEACEKEEPING BATTALION
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27 February, 2008
Armenia’s Peacekeeping Battalion recently received over $3,000,000
worth of communication equipment through the United States’ Office of
Defense Cooperation (ODC) located in the U.S. Embassy. The radios,
antennas, various supporting equipment, and training, all purchased
from the Harris Radio Corporation, further ensure the ability of the
Armenian battalion to jointly operate with coalition and peacekeeping
forces worldwide, and specifically in Kosovo and Iraq where Armenian
contingents now operate.
The communications equipment is part of a larger U.S. assistance plan
to support Armenia’s NATO Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP)
goal, which stipulates Armenia’s objective to develop a peacekeeping
battalion. In support of that objective, the U.S. has allocated over
$6,000,000 of Foreign Military Financing (FMF) funds since 2006
to fully equip the Armenian Peacekeeping Battalion with uniforms,
field equipment, medical equipment, chemical detection and protection
equipment, and training.
Additional U.S. funding has been directed to support the expansion
of this peacekeeping battalion to a brigade size unit as is also
stipulated in Armenia’s IPAP with NATO. The ODC is working with the
Armenian Ministry of Defense in 2008 to provide a limited number
of transport trucks, uniforms, field equipment and additional
communications equipment to support the development of the Armenian
Peacekeeping Brigade
The U.S. Office of Defense Cooperation in Armenia works to foster
U.S. government and industry assistance to Armenia in the defense
sphere. The office operates under the authority of the U.S. Chief
of Mission in Armenia and the U.S. European Command, located in
Stuttgart, Germany.