Flew Su-25 attack missions and Mi-24 and Mi-8 support and transport sorties for Armenian and Karabakh Armenian ground forces; air defence engaged Azerbaijani aircraft.

The war began in February 1988 as a political and ethnic conflict inside the Soviet Union and became a full war between Armenia-backed Karabakh Armenian forces and Azerbaijan after 1991. Neither side had a real air force at first. Azerbaijan inherited more – roughly 45 combat aircraft including MiG-25s, Su-24s and Su-25s according to Wikipedia’s summary, some flown by Russian and Ukrainian mercenaries – while Armenia had two or three Su-25s and a few dozen helicopters. According to the ACIG history by Tom Cooper (2003), the most detailed published account and the one Wikipedia follows, the Armenian air force started offensive operations in October 1992. It lost an Mi-24 near Kazakh on 12 November 1992 while supporting the Martuni offensive, had two Mi-8s hit on 23 November and lost another on 30 December. When Azerbaijan cut the Lachin corridor on 2 January 1993, the Armenian counter-attack from 7 January cost an Mi-8, an Mi-24 and a Su-25 on its first day – a Su-25 the author thinks may have been Russian – and three more helicopters and possibly another jet by the end of January. The Kelbajar operation in spring 1993 cost one Mi-8, on 16 April; ACIG records no further Armenian losses before the ceasefire. Armenia’s military strength lay in its ground forces and its air defence, which the Ministry of Defence credits with more than ten enemy aircraft and helicopters. Casualty and displacement figures for the war are contested: Wikipedia’s summary cites 724,000 Azerbaijanis and 300,000–500,000 Armenians displaced.

Исход The Bishkek ceasefire took effect on 12 May 1994; Armenian forces held Nagorno-Karabakh, internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan, and surrounding Azerbaijani districts.

The ACIG loss list is a single, unofficial source and cannot be checked against Armenian or Azerbaijani official records, which were not found. The identity of the Su-25 lost on 7 January 1993 is uncertain in the source itself. Casualty figures differ by source and are given as Wikipedia summarises them.

Полет на

Armenian Air Force and air defence forces

Где

Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding districts of Azerbaijan

Наряду

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (self-declared)

Против

Азербайджан

Самолёт

Су-25, Ми-24, Mi-8/Mi-17

Потери

ACIG, via Wikipedia, records about nine helicopters and one or two Su-25s shot down, and another Mi-8 damaged, between 12 November 1992 and 16 April 1993, and no losses after that; exact totals are not published. The Armenian Ministry of Defence says its air defence destroyed more than ten enemy aircraft and helicopters. Wikipedia’s summary of the whole war gives 5,856–6,000 Armenian and 11,557 Azerbaijani dead.

Источники

Википедия · Википедия · Министерство обороны Армении

Air defence against Azerbaijani helicopters and drones; no Armenian manned air combat is recorded in the sources checked.

The four days of fighting from 1 to 5 April 2016 were the heaviest along the Line of Contact since 1994 and a first look at the air war to come. The Armenian side’s contribution in the air was defensive: Karabakh Armenian and Armenian air defences claimed two Azerbaijani helicopters and 14 drones, while Azerbaijan acknowledged losing one Mi-24 and one drone. On 5 April Armenia reported destroying an Israeli-made IAI Harop loitering munition, which Wikipedia describes as the type’s first combat use anywhere. Casualty figures from the two governments differ widely – 91 Armenian troops killed by Armenia’s count against 31 Azerbaijani soldiers by Azerbaijan’s – and so do the descriptions of the ground that changed hands: Azerbaijan said 20 square kilometres, Armenia 800 hectares of no importance, while the International Crisis Group judged the heights strategically important. The ceasefire was agreed in Moscow. The lesson Azerbaijan drew was about drones and loitering munitions; Armenia’s air arm, still built around a few Su-25s and helicopters, did not change much before 2020.

Исход A ceasefire agreed in Moscow by the two chiefs of general staff took effect on 5 April 2016. Azerbaijan said it had taken 20 square kilometres of ground; Armenia said it had lost 800 hectares of no tactical or strategic importance.

Loss claims are the two governments’ own and were not independently verified in the sources checked. Whether any Armenian Air Force (as distinct from Karabakh Armenian) aircraft flew is not documented.

Полет на

Nagorno-Karabakh Defence Army with Armenian support

Где

The Line of Contact in Nagorno-Karabakh

Наряду

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (self-declared)

Против

Азербайджан

Вылазки

Непригодный.

Потери

Armenia claimed two Azerbaijani helicopters and 14 drones shot down; Azerbaijan acknowledged one Mi-24 and one drone. Armenian figures: 91 troops killed; Azerbaijani figures: 31 soldiers killed. The US State Department estimated about 350 casualties in all.

Источники

Википедия

Su-25 ground attack and helicopter support; ground-based air defence against Azerbaijani drones and aircraft. The Su-30SM fighters were not used in combat.

The 44 days from 27 September 2020 were decided in the air, but not by Armenia’s air force. Azerbaijan’s Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones and loitering munitions found and struck air defence systems, artillery and armour, relaying targets to artillery, and Wikipedia reports Azerbaijan used 11 old An-2 biplanes as unmanned decoys to make Armenian air defences reveal themselves. Oryx’s count of photo-verified losses, which it stresses is a minimum, shows 22 Armenian 9K33 Osa and three Strela-10 systems destroyed, nearly all by TB2s, and Oryx reports that only one of Armenia’s six Buk-M1-2 launchers was serviceable when the war began. Armenia’s own air power was small. On 29 September its Ministry of Defence said a Turkish F-16 flying from Ganja had shot down a Su-25 over Vardenis inside Armenia and killed the pilot; Turkey’s presidential communications director called the claim false, analysts noted that the wreckage photos could not settle it, and Azerbaijan said two Armenian Su-25s had crashed into a mountain. The four Su-30SMs stayed out of the war. In March 2021 Pashinyan said Armenia had not managed to buy missiles for them before it began. On 9 November a Russian Mi-24 from the 102nd base was shot down over Armenia near Yeraskh by an Azerbaijani MANPADS, killing two; Azerbaijan called it an accident and apologised.

Исход The trilateral statement of 9 November 2020 ended the fighting on 10 November: Armenian forces withdrew from the surrounding districts and Russian peacekeepers deployed in the rest of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Manned-aircraft losses on both sides are claims not confirmed by the other side; Armenian official aircraft-loss totals were not found. Oryx’s counts are minimums. Casualty figures are the two governments’ own.

Полет на

Armenian Air Force and air defence forces, with the Artsakh Defence Army

Где

Nagorno-Karabakh, surrounding districts and the Armenian border

Наряду

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (self-declared)

Против

Азербайджан

Самолёт

Су-25, Ми-24, Mi-8

Потери

Armenia said one Su-25 was shot down by a Turkish F-16 on 29 September, killing the pilot; Turkey denied it, and Azerbaijan said two Armenian Su-25s crashed for non-combat reasons. Azerbaijan claimed 60 Armenian anti-aircraft systems destroyed by 7 October, including four S-300s and 25 Osas; Oryx’s photo-verified list shows heavy Armenian air defence losses, including 22 Osa and three Strela-10 systems destroyed. Armenian and Artsakh officials claimed Azerbaijani Su-25s, Mi-24s and dozens of drones shot down. Government figures: 3,825 Armenian and 2,906 Azerbaijani servicemen killed.

Источники

Википедия · Авиационный журналист · Орикс · Орикс · RFE/RL · RBC · Википедия · Википедия

No combat role for the Armenian Air Force is recorded in the sources checked; the fighting was between Azerbaijan and the Artsakh Defence Army.

Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Defence described the operation that began on 19 September 2023 as “local anti-terrorist activities”, citing landmines it said had been planted by Armenians and had killed two civilians and four police officers. The Artsakh Defence Army, cut off since the blockade of the Lachin corridor, agreed to a ceasefire mediated through the Russian peacekeeping contingent the next day, including its own disarmament. On 28 September President Samvel Shahramanyan signed a decree dissolving all state institutions by 1 January 2024; the self-declared republic ceased to exist on that date. Within two weeks almost the entire Armenian population of the region had left for Armenia: the Armenian government counted 100,617 people by 3 October. The Artsakh air arm – FlightGlobal listed two Su-25s and five each of Mi-8s and Mi-24s – disappeared with the army. The offensive is recorded here because it closed the conflict in which the Armenian Air Force was born, not because the air force fought in it.

Исход The Artsakh Defence Army was disarmed under the ceasefire of 20 September; the self-declared republic’s president decreed its dissolution by 1 January 2024, and the Armenian government counted 100,617 refugees by 3 October 2023.

Casualty figures are each side’s own. The fate of the Artsakh aircraft was not documented in the sources checked.

Полет на

Artsakh Defence Army (the Armenian Air Force is not reported to have taken part)

Где

Nagorno-Karabakh

Наряду

Нет союзных военно-воздушных сил

Вылазки

Непригодный.

Потери

Azerbaijan reported 192 killed; Artsakh authorities more than 200. Five Russian peacekeepers were killed when Azerbaijani troops fired on their vehicle, which Azerbaijan called a mistake.

Источники

Википедия · FlightGlobal · Википедия

Joint combat duty guarding Armenian airspace with the Russian 102nd Military Base and its 3624th Air Base.

The Ministry of Defence dates joint Armenian-Russian combat air defence duty from 15 April 1999, shortly after Russian MiG-29s arrived at Erebuni. In February 2007 the Russian Air Force chief, General Vladimir Mikhaylov, promised in Yerevan to keep strengthening Armenian air defence through the 102nd base, and Russian officers said Armenian crews had been trained on S-300s since 2005; the arrangement had by then been given the status of a CSTO regional air defence system. In December 2015 the two defence ministers signed an agreement on a Joint Air Defence System of the Caucasus, which the Armenian parliament ratified in June 2016 by 102 votes to 8, and on 8 December 2015 the Russian air base was reinforced with six Mi-24Ps and an Mi-8MT. The arrangement did not prevent the defeats of 2020 or the attack of September 2022, which Armenia’s leadership cited when it froze its CSTO participation in 2024.

Исход Continuing on paper; its practical state after Armenia froze CSTO participation in 2024 was not described in the sources checked.

Whether joint duty continues in practice since 2024 is not publicly documented.

Полет на

Armenian air defence forces and Russian forces in Armenia

Где

Armenian airspace

Наряду

Россия

Самолёт

Russian MiG-29 (3624th Air Base)

Потери

0 самолетов · 0 погибшихНичего не зафиксировано.

Источники

Министерство обороны Армении · Azatutyun (RFE/RL Armenian Service) · Википедия · Википедия · Википедия