Naka conflict proves: low-cost drones are changing the future of war
On November 12, the US "Washington Post" website published a report entitled "Azerbaijan's UAV Controls the Battlefield of Naka-and Shows the Future of War". The full text is as follows:
A drone overlooking Nagorno-Karabakh (Naka region), you can see most of the conflict that lasted for 6 weeks in this enclave in the mountains of Azerbaijan: the video first shows the soldiers in the trenches , And then there was an explosion, and the smoke filled with gunpowder, and then there was nothing more.
Drone attacks targeted Armenian and Karabakh soldiers and destroyed tanks, artillery and air defense systems-giving Azerbaijan a huge advantage in the 44-day conflict, and it has become a demonstration of how drones are changing the battlefield so far. The clearest evidence.
The ever-expanding lineup of low-cost drones can give national air power, and the cost is only a small part of the cost of maintaining a traditional air force.
The situation in the Naka region also highlights how drones can instantly change a long-term conflict and put ground forces in extreme danger.
Michael Koffman, a military analyst and head of Russian research at CNA, a defense think tank in Arlington, Virginia, said: “UAVs provide small countries with very cheap tactical aviation and precision guided weapons, allowing them to destroy the cost of opponents. Much higher equipment, such as tanks and air defense systems."
He also said: "Maintaining an air force is expensive. And drones give smaller poor countries the opportunity to use air power."
In Azerbaijan, videos of drone attacks are shown on the website of the Ministry of National Defense every day, air raids are shown on the big screen of the capital Baku, and pictures of air raids are kept on Twitter.
Western military analysts have also studied these airstrike videos to track and analyze the rapid military progress made by Azerbaijan.
According to the ceasefire agreement reached, Russia will send a peacekeeping force of more than 2,000 people to the Naka region to return to Azerbaijan from the Naka region occupied by Armenia during the conflict in the early 1990s.
Since the Pentagon deployed the Predator UAV in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks, armed UAVs have increasingly participated in operations.
However, within a few months, the Naqqa conflict has become perhaps the most powerful example of how relatively inexpensive small attack drones can change the war situation that was once dominated by ground warfare and traditional air power.
The Naka conflict also highlighted that even advanced weapon systems, tanks, radars, and surface-to-air missiles have weaknesses.
It also sparked a debate about whether the era of traditional tanks is about to end.
Using drones purchased from Israel and Turkey, Azerbaijan tracked and destroyed the Armenian weapon system in the Naka region, disrupted its defenses, and allowed the Azerbaijani side to advance quickly.
Armenia discovered that the air defense systems in the Naka region—many of which were old Soviet systems—were unable to withstand drone attacks, and the damage quickly increased.
Franz Stefan Gadi, a researcher on future conflict issues at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that traditional military equipment such as tanks and armored vehicles will not be eliminated.
But he said that the Naka conflict showed that the use of other weapons and well-trained ground forces at the same time as the deployment of armed drones is "increasingly important."
He also said, "In future wars, if this is not done, it will bring huge destructive consequences."
Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst at the Australian Institute of Strategic Policy, wrote on the "True Transparent Defense" website that as technology advances and costs decrease, weapon systems like Kamikaze drones may become More and more common.
He wrote: “For ground warfare, it will be a potential battlefield situation changer.” According to Xinhua News Agency