Azerbaijani military turns Soviet biplane aircraft into drones

Details are emerging regarding the shot down of several Azerbaijani An-2 aircraft during the ethnic and territorial conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Fighting between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces has erupted again over the disputed separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh. During the new phase of conflict were shot down several Soviet-era An-2 biplane agricultural aircraft over the front line.

It is worth mentioning that An-2 is archaic agricultural aircraft that first flew in 1947, as the Soviet Union was rebuilding after the tumult of World War II. And such an active appearance of this type of aircraft over the battlefield came as a complete surprise to many, but later it became known that Azerbaijan was using these aircraft to identify enemy air defense positions.

Azerbaijani military have converted a Soviet-era civilian airplane into an ad hoc unmanned aerial vehicle. Special equipment takes the place of a human pilot in the cockpit of an airplane, replacing the crew with a kit that takes just a short time to install.

Armenia’s Defense Ministry also posted some video shows an attack on Azerbaijani AN-2 over Nagorno-Karabakh.

At the same time, new satellite imagery showed that Azerbaijan deployed more than 50 An-2 biplane aircraft to Yevlakh airport.

The fighting that started six days. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev ordered martial law be imposed in some regions of the country and called for a curfew in major cities.

In a televised address to the nation, Aliyev said that “there are losses among the Azerbaijani forces and the civilian population as a result of the Armenian bombardment,” but didn’t give further details. He also claimed that “many units of the enemy’s military equipment have been destroyed.”