Chinese newspapers highlight lessons from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict

`Despite its superiority in conventional infantry forces, equipped with tanks, armor and radar, the Armenian army still easily becomes ‘easy prey’ for Azerbaijan’s armed drones (UAVs)`

The article quotes military experts in this country summarizing developments in the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, considering this an `alarming lesson` about how UAVs can change the battlefield.

Azerbaijan’s UAVs repeatedly filmed Armenian soldiers being exposed and targeted while operating on the ground.

In addition to armed UAVs, Azerbaijan also uses this weapon in reconnaissance activities to gain an advantage in fighting and force Armenia to cease hostilities after about 6 weeks.

Azerbaijan’s Orbiter UAV during the military parade in the capital Baku, December 10.

`During the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, the anti-UAV shield was not used effectively,` Chinese experts said.

The article states that the Chinese army (PLA) owns a large number of UAVs of all types, but potential opponents also staff advanced UAV systems that are more difficult to detect and prevent than the models used in the Nagorno conflict.

`Therefore, the PLA needs to raise awareness of the threat from UAVs and incorporate this weapon into its strategy and training program,` the article said.

Chinese experts believe that the PLA needs to build a multi-layered air defense network equipped with anti-UAV radar, blind spot compensation radar, radio detection stations and other acoustic or infrared tracking solutions, to

Other proposed anti-UAV proposals include electronic jamming, using anti-aircraft weapons such as anti-aircraft artillery-missile complexes or close-range defense systems such as the LD-2000, or deceiving UAVs with targets.

Armenian soldiers almost died when standing next to a tank hit by a rocket

Azerbaijani UAVs attack Armenian tanks.

China is one of the countries that actively uses UAVs in the military field.

Michael Raska, an assistant professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said that although UAVs were commonly used in previous US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, political and military leaders

`The fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh will certainly increase debates about the use of UAVs in combat and effective countermeasures,` Raska said.

Security expert Timothy Heath of the US-based RAND analysis firm said the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh shows that in theory, weaker forces can still effectively deploy armed UAVs.

`The conflict shows that advanced militaries must develop low-cost and diverse defense systems to counter UAVs,` Heath said.

Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding areas after the ceasefire agreement on November 10.

Malcolm Davis, defense strategy and capabilities expert at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said that the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict partly represents the face of future warfare, in which automatic weapons or suicide UAVs can

`Effectively combined with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, a fleet of UAVs gives militaries the ability to quickly and accurately strike exposed or unprotected ground forces.`

Davis said that to cope, countries need to develop anti-UAV capabilities.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have clashed repeatedly since pro-Armenian separatists took control of Nagorno-Karabakh after a war in the 1990s that left 30,000-40,000 people dead.