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ARMENIAN AIR DEFENCE SHOOTS DOWN UNMANNED AZERBAIJANI SPY DRONE
by: Lilit Gevorgyan
Global Insight
September 15, 2011
A spokesperson for the Defence Ministry of the self-declared
Nagorno-Karabakh republic stated yesterday (14 September) that its
armed forces had shot down an Azerbaijani unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
that crossed the Line of Contact into the ethnic-Armenian-populated
area. This is the first time that Nagorno-Karabakh's anti-aircraft
defence forces have carried out such action. The Defence Ministry
also released photographs of the stricken UAV, which shows that the
unmanned drone included components built by NovAtel, a Canadian firm
with sales offices in Texas, Houston, US, as well as in Australia,
China, the UK and Russia. The Defence Ministry stated that prior to
the downing of the UAV there have been a number of similar flights by
Azerbaijani UAVs launched for reconnaissance purposes. The Azerbaijani
Defence Ministry has not made any statements in this regard.
Significance:It is unclear if the UAV was assembled in Azerbaijan or
was imported. As part of its military overhaul Azerbaijan has been
investing heavily in its military procurement budget in recent years.
In 2008 Israel's Elbit received a contract to supply at least 10 (some
sources say 15) examples of the Hermes 450 unmanned aerial vehicle.
Additionally, local production was agreed during a visit by
then-Israeli president Shimon Peres in 2009. It is possible that
the drone shot down by the Nagorno-Karabakh forces is one of the
Hermes UAVs. Two other UAVs, the Aerostar and the Orbiter, have also
recently been introduced into service, but the purported wreckage
images do not resemble these two systems. Nagorno-Karabakh declared
its independence from Azerbaijan in February 1988 and since then has
beende factoindependent. The military effort by Azerbaijan to bring it
back under the central government's control ended with Baku's defeat
in 1994. However, since then Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev has
made no secret of his government's plans to launch a new war against
Nagorno-Karabakh and end the conflict militarily. Azerbaijan's state
revenues have seen a boost thanks to its energy exports. While
the country was under a US arms embargo until 2002 this has been
subsequently lifted allowing the US, Turkey and Israel to become key
military trading partners for Azerbaijan. The Armenian government took
an unprecedented step last month holding two days of consultations
with the Israeli foreign ministry delegation visiting the Armenian
capital. One of the issues discussed during the meeting was the
geopolitics of the region and dangers associated with Azerbaijan's
rearmament. However, given the commercial value of the deals Azerbaijan
will remain an attractive military trading partner. At the same time
Nagorno-Karabakh's response suggests that Armenia is also equipped to
counter the military advances, including the deployment of advanced
S-300 surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries that may already be in
Nagorno-Karabakh, according to satellite imagery analysed by IHS. These
are in addition to both Armenian and Russian S-300 batteries deployed
in Armenia proper.
by: Lilit Gevorgyan
Global Insight
September 15, 2011
A spokesperson for the Defence Ministry of the self-declared
Nagorno-Karabakh republic stated yesterday (14 September) that its
armed forces had shot down an Azerbaijani unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)
that crossed the Line of Contact into the ethnic-Armenian-populated
area. This is the first time that Nagorno-Karabakh's anti-aircraft
defence forces have carried out such action. The Defence Ministry
also released photographs of the stricken UAV, which shows that the
unmanned drone included components built by NovAtel, a Canadian firm
with sales offices in Texas, Houston, US, as well as in Australia,
China, the UK and Russia. The Defence Ministry stated that prior to
the downing of the UAV there have been a number of similar flights by
Azerbaijani UAVs launched for reconnaissance purposes. The Azerbaijani
Defence Ministry has not made any statements in this regard.
Significance:It is unclear if the UAV was assembled in Azerbaijan or
was imported. As part of its military overhaul Azerbaijan has been
investing heavily in its military procurement budget in recent years.
In 2008 Israel's Elbit received a contract to supply at least 10 (some
sources say 15) examples of the Hermes 450 unmanned aerial vehicle.
Additionally, local production was agreed during a visit by
then-Israeli president Shimon Peres in 2009. It is possible that
the drone shot down by the Nagorno-Karabakh forces is one of the
Hermes UAVs. Two other UAVs, the Aerostar and the Orbiter, have also
recently been introduced into service, but the purported wreckage
images do not resemble these two systems. Nagorno-Karabakh declared
its independence from Azerbaijan in February 1988 and since then has
beende factoindependent. The military effort by Azerbaijan to bring it
back under the central government's control ended with Baku's defeat
in 1994. However, since then Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev has
made no secret of his government's plans to launch a new war against
Nagorno-Karabakh and end the conflict militarily. Azerbaijan's state
revenues have seen a boost thanks to its energy exports. While
the country was under a US arms embargo until 2002 this has been
subsequently lifted allowing the US, Turkey and Israel to become key
military trading partners for Azerbaijan. The Armenian government took
an unprecedented step last month holding two days of consultations
with the Israeli foreign ministry delegation visiting the Armenian
capital. One of the issues discussed during the meeting was the
geopolitics of the region and dangers associated with Azerbaijan's
rearmament. However, given the commercial value of the deals Azerbaijan
will remain an attractive military trading partner. At the same time
Nagorno-Karabakh's response suggests that Armenia is also equipped to
counter the military advances, including the deployment of advanced
S-300 surface-to-air missile (SAM) batteries that may already be in
Nagorno-Karabakh, according to satellite imagery analysed by IHS. These
are in addition to both Armenian and Russian S-300 batteries deployed
in Armenia proper.