Special Report - Why did Armenia lose the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict?
Now that the dust has settled on the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict the pundits have been able to opine on the reasons for Armenia’s heavy defeat. They have also been able to draw inferences from how the two nations fought and why one emerged so patently on top.
The conflict ended with a ceasefire on November 9, 2020. This has been respected almost absolutely. Prior to that there were several ceasefires more honored in the breach than in the observance. The 44-day conflict was a heavy defeat for Armenia.
Armenia had most of its tanks destroyed. Most Armenian military hardware is Russian-made. Moscow sells it to Yerevan at a big discount. The Armenians also purchase equipment from Belarus and India. That is largely because items manufactured by these countries are near the bottom of the price range. The hardware that Armenia deployed did not perform well. However, this underachievement should not be exaggerated. Armenia lost also because it was outnumbered in every type of unit: tanks, artillery, aircraft, as well as soldiers.
Drones proved to be determinative. This is the real paradigm shift in warfare. It is the first outright war in history in which drones made the clear difference. That is the major takeaway from the conflict. Armenia’s air defense was overwhelmed by these unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) or drones, as they are commonly called.
Foreign militaries are studying the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for what they can garner from it.
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