Thread by @RikeFranke

I want to take this article on 'new weapons that are changing the war in #NagornoKarabakh' to talk a bit about #drones in this conflict. (1/8)
tagesschau.de/ausland/bergka…

As someone who's been looking into #drones, two things I found interesting:
First, the conflict showed again the important propaganda value of drones. As drones carry sophisticated surveillance tech, they document every strike they make (if armed), or operation flown. (2/8)

So using drones is like having a film crew with you, and Azerbaijan in particular has taken advantage of this, publishing clips of their drone operations. (3/8)

Second, and more importantly: there used to be a conviction among drone researchers, that today's drones wouldn't play a big role in interstate conflicts, because they are rather vulnerable and not very powerful. (4/8)

The general understanding (generalising a bit here) was that today's #drones were only really useful in areas where the drone user had aerial superiority, so for example when fighting non-state actors. (5/8)

But now we see two states use drones against each other, and with quite some impact. I think the analysis of many drone researchers, including myself, was too focused on larger military powers. (6/8)

Because for smaller states, which do have air forces, but only have a limited number of aircraft - as is the case for both Armenia and Azerbaijan - drones are quite an important contribution because they boost aerial capabilities. (7/8)

I think that's what we are seeing at the moment. (end)

Addendum: Quite fascinating that we now seeing old *manned aircraft* being repurposed as disposable #drones (as #Azerbaijan is doing with old Antonov An-2).

(And yes I know there is a long history of that from the beginning of drone development)