The defense relationship between Armenia and the United States has evolved over the past two decades, marked by periods of active engagement and more passive phases. While the early 2000s saw an increase in high-level meetings and tangible military cooperation, recent years, particularly under the tenure of Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan, have been less fruitful, raising questions about the direction and depth of the bilateral relationship.
Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan recently made his third visit to the United States since taking office. His October 12 visit was his first under the Trump administration. There were no high-level meetings, and, in particular, no meeting between Papikyan and US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. Papikyan’s only official meeting was with Undersecretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby at the Pentagon. No concrete results from that encounter are known. The Armenian and US military cooperation agenda generally revolves around existing programs.
One outcome that Armenia might get from Papikyan’s recent trip is a change of the Armenian military uniform, as during his visit Papikyan met with the leadership of the American company Milliken in Washington, which specializes in the design and development of military uniforms.
It appears challenging for the current Armenian authorities to maintain productive relations with the Republican administration rather than with the Democrats. One possible evidence of this is that Papikyan’s only high-level meeting with a US Secretary of Defense took place during his December 2024 visit, which was in the final days of the outgoing Biden administration. On December 5, Papikyan met with Lloyd Austin.
The meeting commenced with an official welcoming ceremony at the Pentagon. During the meeting Austin emphasized the historic significance of the visit of the defense minister of the Republic of Armenia. Though the US Democratic administration had shown an increased interest in Armenia and the region since 2018, there were no prior high-level meetings between the heads of defense agencies and the timing of this meeting is significant, with only a bit more than 40 days left till the Trump administration came to power.
There were no essential cooperation projects proposed by Armenia to its US counterparts at this meeting either. The agenda largely revolved around US assistance provided to Armenia. The meeting was historical in the sense that it broke the two-decade hiatus in high-level meetings but the lack of concrete results or proposals raises questions about its impact for Armenia and Armenian interests overall.
