Artsakh Forces Down Azerbaijani Drone

By Asbarez | Wednesday, 25 September 2019


The air defense forces of the Artsakh Army downed an Azerbaijani drone carrying out a reconnaissance mission, the country’s defense ministry reported.

The Orbiter 2 unmanned aerial vehicle was shot down on Wednesday at around 10:15am, the ministry added.

The Orbiter 2 is manufactured by Aeronautics, an Israeli company, which within the context of a potential $20 million deal with Baku, became embroiled in controversy after Azerbaijani officials forced its specialist to conduct a “live demonstration” of its armed “kamikaze” drones on Artsakh targets in July, 2017. While two Aeronautics specialists refused the Azerbaijani order, company executives agreed to compel the attack.

This led to an investigation of Aeronautics by Israel’s government, which eventually suspended the company’s export license. However, in January, it lifted the ban on the sale of attack drones to Azerbaijan. Reports indicate that Aeronautics has opened offices in Baku last month.

On Sunday, Azerbaijani forces attempted to breach the Artsakh-Azerbaijan border–known as the line of contact–but Artsakh forces retaliated and prevented the attack. An Azerbaijani soldier was killed during the incident. His remains were returned to Azerbaijan through the efforts of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

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