In late September 2020, a long-standing frozen conflict in Transcaucasia over the state of Nagorny Karabakh district – an internationally acclaimed part of Azerbaijan primarily inhabited by the Armenian folk – became active. Military actions between Azerbaijan and Armenia burst out on September 27 and saw the massive use of small arms, artillery, armored vehicles, anti-tank guided missile systems, multiple rocket launch systems, short-range air defense weapons, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The use of various Israeli- and Turkish-designed UAVs was among the main distinctive features of the Karabakh War 2020. These drones casted the main threat to the armed forces of the unrecognized Republic of Karabakh (RK). At the first stage of the conflict, the Azeri troops did not manage to push forward to Nagorny Karabakh in a deep manner, as the RK servicemen competently defended their positions and employed the features of the environment. However, on this level of the conflict Azerbaijan employed new tactics comprising the combined use of decoy targets, reconnaissance and combat UAVs, and loitering munitions. These methods resulted in the blow-by-blow destruction of artillery positions, automotive and armored vehicles, MRLs and VSHORAD systems of the RK.
The book ‘The combat use of unmanned aerial vehicles in Nagorno-Karabakh’ presents preliminary analysis of the final results of the use of UAVs in the Karabakh war in 2020 and an answer to a logical question was given, how the Azerbaijani military, who had not previously had any experience of massive the use of UAVs as part of a reconnaissance and strike contour for various tactical scenarios, who have not previously conducted any large-scale military exercises to practice such operations with the participation of unmanned aerial vehicles, it was possible to provide a massive and highly effective combat use unmanned aerial vehicles of various types.
The Nagorno-Karabakh war of 2020 clearly demonstrated modern trends in different swings of shock patrolling ammunition and reconnaissance and shock UAVs, the tactics of their single, group, and massive use, integration with other weapons. Today's research of various concepts of the combat use of UAV swarms, as well as improving and the introduction of swarm algorithms, can make unmanned vehicles one of the most popular means of armed struggle in the short term.