The aggravation of the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh showed the weaknesses of both sides
Nagorno-Karabakh is a rather closed territory, and discussions about the quality of the fortifications created by the NKR defense army in 22 years were mainly of a theoretical nature. Recent events have made it possible to evaluate everything that has been created during this time.
The command of the Defense Army (AO) of Nagorno-Karabakh was based on the Israeli experience of organizing in case of a possible invasion of Syria in the Golan Heights. At the same time, the positions as a whole were located and strengthened as prescribed in the Soviet manuals on engineering support and combat manuals.
The NKR JSC paid much attention to the structures for tanks (both single vehicles and entire units). They, playing the role of mobile firing points, became the basis of defense. Equipped positions allow, if necessary, to quickly change the location, and then return back.
Equally important was preparation for action in the face of enemy air superiority. The defensive positions were saturated with air defense systems, in particular, MANPADS and ZU-23-2 anti-aircraft guns. The crews of not only large-caliber machine guns were trained in shooting at air targets, but also the RPG-7, which proved to be highly effective in the fight against helicopters.
Initially, Azerbaijan was preparing to break into the defenses of Nagorno-Karabakh, sequentially seizing each line of fortifications with assault infantry groups under the cover of continuous massive artillery fire, tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, as well as air strikes. This scenario completely satisfied the enemy - NKR and the armed forces of Armenia. It is clear that the Azerbaijani military, getting bogged down in the assault on defensive positions and suffering significant losses in personnel and equipment, could hardly capture the entire Nagorno-Karabakh in the two weeks laid down in the combat plans.
Technique bet
But in the late 2000s, Baku sharply changed its strategy, deciding not to arrange bloody battles for insignificant trenches and heights, but to inflict fire damage on the enemy throughout the depth of its defense, isolating the forward positions from the rear and quickly destroying them separately.
To solve this problem, Azerbaijan has started serious purchases of weapons and military equipment. In particular, long-range self-propelled howitzers MSTA-S, 120-mm 2S31 "Vienna" and heavy flamethrower systems were purchased in Russia. Baku purchased various artillery systems from the Russian Federation, Israel and even Turkey, as well as unmanned aerial vehicles, including such exotic ones as the disposable kamikaze Harop.
One of the most expensive acquisitions was the Israeli anti-tank missile system "Spike-NLOS" (Spike-NLOS - non line of sight, striking targets out of line of sight), capable of destroying armored vehicles, various structures and field fortifications at a distance of over 20 kilometers. The purchase of "Spikes", however, like the "Harop", was kept by Baku as a great military secret. So there is still no exact information how many units of each system appeared in the army.
The leadership of Azerbaijan also paid serious attention to armored vehicles, in particular the purchase of T-90 tanks and BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles. Judging by the videos filmed by national television during the exercises, the military planned to use Russian vehicles as mobile firing points operating behind the battle formations of infantry and clearing enemy positions using not only high-explosive shells, but also tank guided missiles and ATGMs.
The Azerbaijani special forces received modern communications equipment, equipment, protective equipment and night vision devices. The main task of the commandos was the adjustment of artillery fire behind enemy lines and the night assault on fortified positions. The commandos were assigned not only to take the object, but also to hold it with the support of artillery and combat helicopters. Such tasks were worked out constantly, the interaction of special forces with pilots and artillerymen was established at a fairly high level.
Plans and realities
The April battles developed according to the scenario standard for local conflicts. After the skirmishes, the situation on the front line began to deteriorate, and at some point one of the sides decided to strike. It is still not entirely clear who exactly started the exacerbation. But it cannot be denied that it was Baku that managed to bring up additional forces in advance, transfer helicopters to temporary sites and create a sufficiently strong artillery fist. On the night of April 1-2, the Azerbaijani military went on the offensive, using the accumulated reserves.
In the vicinity of the village of Talish, in the north of the buffer zone, Azerbaijani commandos with a surprise attack took several Armenian positions. Another group of special forces entered directly into the settlement, where they entered into fire contact with the NKR fighters.
After the end of the conflict, photographs of civilians killed during the night battle in the village became public. The Armenian side accuses Azerbaijanis of deliberate execution of the civilian population, as well as of mockery of the dead and the living. At the same time, photographic documents indicate that the commando attack was so sudden that the civilians did not manage to leave the battle zone in time, and the Armenian military could not repel the enemy's attack.
True, the special forces in Talysh were not lucky - the superior forces of the defending enemy and the loss of the element of surprise forced them to withdraw. But on the retreat, the commandos came under fire from an automatic grenade launcher and were destroyed. According to other sources, pressed by fire, they were covered with mortars.
The actions of the special forces were supported by Mi-24G helicopters (Gebe, Azeri - "Night" is the name of the Super Hind helicopters in the Azerbaijan Air Force) from the 1st SkyWolf Squadron. According to reports, the squadron consists of six modernized "twenty-fourths", painted in a characteristic black color. It is the "heavenly wolves" who constantly work out joint actions with the special forces, for which they received the semi-official name of the "special forces squadron".
At the position of the NKR JSC, the commandos repulsed at night, the Azerbaijani infantry units should have approached in the morning. She covered movements, blocked enemy positions and prevented artillery reserves from approaching, the fire of which was being corrected by drones. But the Azerbaijani infantrymen, faced with shelling from the unrecovered Armenian positions, were unable to replace the commandos in time, forced to repulse the attacks of the NKR JSC fighters in the early morning of April 2 in the light of the sun.
In local counterattacks, the special forces, having lost some of their previously occupied positions, were still able to hold several key heights. But the Azerbaijani military had to use the helicopters of the 1st squadron, one of which, the Mi-24G, was shot down by an accurate shot from an RPG-7. The Azerbaijani Air Force command immediately after this loss suspended all flights in the battle zone.
Artillery, drones, long-range ATGM "Spike" used by Baku have shown themselves well, if not disrupting, then seriously hampering the enemy's transfer of reserves and organizing counterattacks. In particular, on account of the Israeli strike "Harop" a bus with Armenian servicemen, as well as the likely liquidation of the battalion headquarters of the NKR JSC. "Spikes" destroyed at least three Armenian tanks, and directly on the caponiers, from where they tried to fire at the positions occupied by the Azerbaijanis. Most likely, the targets were detected using drones, which transmitted the picture and coordinates directly to the ATGM calculation.
To prevent the approach of the NKR reserves along possible routes of advance, the Azerbaijani MLRS "Smerch", "Grad", 122-mm howitzers D-30, self-propelled guns 2S3, and also, according to some sources, 152-mm 2S19 strikes. The artillery of Karabakh was actively involved in the fire confrontation, trying, first of all, to help its subunits, striving at any cost to return the positions lost on the night of April 1–2.
But despite all the efforts of the NKR fighters, the Azerbaijani military managed to keep their positions until the ceasefire was decided, which became a matter of national pride and loud statements by the military-political leadership of the country.
Separately, it is worth dwelling on the use of tanks by both sides. There were no wall-to-wall fights during the short-lived conflict. Both sides used the tanks as mobile emplacements. A unit of Azerbaijani armored vehicles was blown up by a mine, and several Armenian T-72s, as mentioned above, became victims of artillery and long-range "Spikes"
Toys are expensive now
The April battles showed the army of Nagorno-Karabakh that it became much more difficult to stay on the defensive for the designated two weeks. Tanks as a base, even operating in well-prepared positions, fall prey to long-range Spikes and conventional artillery. At the same time, it should be noted that Baku did not use the most formidable weapon against the fortifications in the offensive - the heavy flamethrower systems "Solntsepek", which, as the experience of using in Syria shows, is capable of even well-fortified bunkers.
Long-range howitzers and MLRS, the actions of which were corrected by drones, in mountainous terrain, where the number of possible ways of approaching reserves is limited, although they did not paralyze the efforts, but created serious difficulties for the NKR command.
It was the continuous strikes of artillery and long-range ATGMs on the positions of the NKR units that did not allow the command of the Nagorno-Karabakh defense army to accumulate enough funds to dislodge the Azerbaijanis from their positions.
But not everything is so smooth for the armed forces of Baku. Their weak link is traditionally their personnel, especially in the infantry. Even the unintended fire of Armenian units stopped its movement on the morning of April 2.
In battles, high moral and volitional qualities were not always demonstrated by the units of the Azerbaijani special forces. In particular, the retreat from the Talysh village was more like an escape.
Yes, due to the higher technical level, the Azerbaijani military were able to achieve some success. But the question arises about the price of victory. For four days of actually local battles for several heights, Baku used up a lot of expensive "toys", in particular missiles for long-range "Spikes", UAV "Harop". This is, not counting the shot ammunition for MLRS and howitzers. One Mi-24G helicopter and several drones were lost. So the stake of the NKR leadership on in-depth training of its servicemen to combat air targets turned out to be justified. "Twenty-fourth" was shot down with an accurate shot from an RPG, while UAVs fell victim to small arms fire, ZU-23-2 and heavy machine guns.
The experience of the April battles showed that Azerbaijan found a way out of the positional deadlock in Nagorno-Karabakh, but such hostilities require very serious material resources and high-tech weapons. But even the use of the WTO and artillery does not relieve the Azerbaijani military from the need to storm the positions of a well-motivated enemy who has much higher moral and volitional qualities and is ready to conduct close combat to the last.
