Regnum news agency, Rusia Dec 22 2017 Armenian army to use satellite imagery for reconnaissance [Armenian News note: the below is translated from Russian] Yerevan, 22 December: The Armenian Armed Forces are expanding their reconnaissance capabilities, and in the near future they will start using "images from space" to conduct operational reconnaissance of the territory of neighbouring states. To this end, the Armenian government has allocated 300m drams (625,000 dollars) to Geokosmos closed-type joint-stock company [CJSC], which was set up in November. According to the government's decision [to start using "images from space" to conduct operational reconnaissance of the territory of neighbouring states, the money will be used] "to put into operation and upgrade the software and hardware used by the receiving station at Geokosmos". Artsrun Hovhannisyan, the spokesman for the Armenian Defence Ministry, said that details of the agreement as well as any further information related to the government's decision, could not be disclosed. "The decision to cooperate with Geokosmos CJSC will expand Armenia's reconnaissance capabilities, particularly by means of space technologies," the spokesman said. Asked whether the establishment of Geokosmos would pave the way for the launch of an Armenian satellite into space, Hovhannisyan said: "I cannot say precisely what is possible, but the Armed Forces must gradually develop, and they do develop their means of reconnaissance and all means of ensuring combat capability in general, and they do take clear steps in that direction, and you can see that. The draft law is one of those examples." The April 2016 war in Nagorno-Karabakh showed that the Armenian Armed Forces did not possess technical means to carry out deep reconnaissance and detect the wide scale of military operations prepared by the enemy. According to some observers, the Armenian Armed Forces will now be able to obtain information not only from Russian satellites or those of member states of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, but also from satellites that belong to other states.