Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP) has suspended the export of its Rotax engines to countries for military use after reports from Armenia that armed drones have been fitted with them.
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This BRP decision comes in a context where a new armed conflict erupted last month in Nagorno-Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan, supported by Turkey.
“We have indeed been made aware recently that some of our Rotax engines are presently used for non-civilian purposes. As soon as we became aware of this situation, we immediately launched a full investigation, ”Martin Langelier, senior vice-president of legal and public affairs at BRP, told QMI Agency by email.
“The use of these engines is exclusively reserved for civilian purposes, as they are certified only for civilian use,” continued Mr. Langelier.
Rotax is a subsidiary of BRP based in Austria, where all of BRP’s aircraft engines are produced.
The company did not respond specifically to questions on this, including how many engines were not delivered as a result of the decision.
On October 5, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, François-Philippe Champagne, declared that he had suspended the export licenses of “Canadian technologies used in the military conflict” to Turkey.
Canada had already suspended most of its military equipment exports to Turkey in October 2019, due to its invasion of northwestern Syria.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with his Armenian counterpart, Nikol Pashinyan, on October 16. Trudeau then “showed his solid support for the mediation efforts deployed by the international community, in particular by the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.”