Frag Out! Magazine

Frag Out! Magazine DSEI 2021

Frag Out! Magazine

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Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski Story: Michał Piekarski cluding relevant authorities residing in Stepanakert. The state also has a relevant set of administrative bodies and armed forces that remain formally sepa- rate. In the case of the latter, the relationship with Armenia is close enough, to consider the forces of Nagorno-Karabakh as a part of the Armenian mili- tary. The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic was still being separated from the remainder of the Azeri territory. The context of resources had two facets. Firstly, the matter concerned access to the resources. Secondly, transport routes had to be considered. This matter dominated politics in the Transcau- casia region. Ultimately, in the second half of the 21st Century, Armenia was still dominated by Rus- sia, being dependent within the domain of military matters, and politics as well. Azerbaijan, similarly to Georgia, has adopted a much more independent course, leaning towards the West. In the case of Azerbaijan we could have also witnessed leaning towards Israel, and Turkey - from where the Azeri military was sourcing its armament, UAVs included. At the same time, it needs to be noted that the internal situation, and defense policy, in both Ar- menia, as well as in Azerbaijan, were altogether dominated by the still-burning conflict. This has been especially pronounced in Azerbaijan - the loss has never been forgotten there. During the last decade, battles on the demarcation line have been more, and more common. A short, 4-days war also broke out in 2016 - without any conclusive results though. Aggression also occurred in the summer of last year. The war that we are discussing here broke out on September 27th, 2020. It started with Stepa- nakert being fired upon by the Azeri rocket artillery. The land offensive has been the next stage. It was being supported by UAVs and artillery. Initially, the Armenian side was able to hamper and stop Azer- baijan's effort. Both sides had a significant military potential available, relative to the size of the coun- tries. Nonetheless, Azerbaijan has been advanta- geous. The Polish Centre for Eastern Studies had published a study suggesting that before the con- flict the Azeri Army had 440 MBTs and 850 IFVs at its disposal. Meanwhile, the Armenian military had 220 MBTs, and 200 IFVs and APCs in its inventory. The tube artillery assets, rocket artillery, and air defense systems were also present - on both sides. Furthermore, both sides also had mobile ballistic missile launchers at hand (Tochka and Lora - Azer- baijan; Tochka, Elbrus, Iskander - Armenia). When it comes to the air assets, the Azeri side has been viewed as the one having the advantage, owning 16 MiG-29 jets, 20 Su-25 platforms, and 100 helicopters - Mi-24 and Mi-8 primarily. The Armenian Air Force had just 12 Su-25 jets at its Wars 23 www.fragoutmag.com ANALYSIS

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