The First War Won Primarily with Unmanned Systems
Like most, I tried to closely follow this war from afar last year with some bewilderment. While it was in process, it was hard to ascertain what was really happening. The quick and decisive victory by Azerbaijan, when Armenia so decisively won the previous war just a few decades ago, and that they held some traditional military advantages, was impressive.
For us survivalist, there are some lessons and key takeaways. The concept of masking, verses how we traditionally understand cover and concealment, needs to be considered. Also, the importance of understanding IO and how it can shape our response, needs to be evaluated. This battle also showed how unmanned combat projection platforms dominated the decisive battles leaving the Armenian forces completely demoralized.
While article was written from the military perspective, I was impressed by how this applies to survivalist activities.
From the article:
The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was fought between Armenia and Azerbaijan from September 24 to November 10, 2020. This 44-day war resulted in a decisive military victory for Azerbaijan. Armenia was out-fought, out-numbered, and out-spent and lost even though they controlled the high-ground in a mountainous region that favored traditional defense. Azerbaijan’s alliance with Turkey, and close technological support from Israel, strategically isolated Armenia. In addition, Turkey’s posturing influenced the Russians not to intervene to support Armenia. That Azerbaijan attacked Armenia during the pandemic was an additional factor. The fact that Azerbaijan won the war is not extraordinary, considering the correlation of forces arrayed against Armenia. What is exceptional is that this was the first modern war primarily decided by unmanned weapons. In this war the Turkish-made BAYRAKTAR TB2 Unmanned Air Combat Vehicle (UCAV) and the Israeli-made HAROP Loitering Munition (LM) dominated the fighting and provided Azerbaijan with a war-winning advantage. Here are ten lessons derived from a deep study of the open-source information about the conflict.
Like most, I tried to closely follow this war from afar last year with some bewilderment. While it was in process, it was hard to ascertain what was really happening. The quick and decisive victory by Azerbaijan, when Armenia so decisively won the previous war just a few decades ago, and that they held some traditional military advantages, was impressive.
For us survivalist, there are some lessons and key takeaways. The concept of masking, verses how we traditionally understand cover and concealment, needs to be considered. Also, the importance of understanding IO and how it can shape our response, needs to be evaluated. This battle also showed how unmanned combat projection platforms dominated the decisive battles leaving the Armenian forces completely demoralized.
While article was written from the military perspective, I was impressed by how this applies to survivalist activities.
From the article:
The Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was fought between Armenia and Azerbaijan from September 24 to November 10, 2020. This 44-day war resulted in a decisive military victory for Azerbaijan. Armenia was out-fought, out-numbered, and out-spent and lost even though they controlled the high-ground in a mountainous region that favored traditional defense. Azerbaijan’s alliance with Turkey, and close technological support from Israel, strategically isolated Armenia. In addition, Turkey’s posturing influenced the Russians not to intervene to support Armenia. That Azerbaijan attacked Armenia during the pandemic was an additional factor. The fact that Azerbaijan won the war is not extraordinary, considering the correlation of forces arrayed against Armenia. What is exceptional is that this was the first modern war primarily decided by unmanned weapons. In this war the Turkish-made BAYRAKTAR TB2 Unmanned Air Combat Vehicle (UCAV) and the Israeli-made HAROP Loitering Munition (LM) dominated the fighting and provided Azerbaijan with a war-winning advantage. Here are ten lessons derived from a deep study of the open-source information about the conflict.
