
T-72
Representative of the Soviet legacy armor baseline and the tank-regiment component described in public force-structure analysis.
Tanks / Main battle tankConflict side
Artsakh was the self-name of the de facto Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, an unrecognized Armenian-run polity in Nagorno-Karabakh whose defense profile centered on the Artsakh Defense Army, Armenian backing, Soviet legacy equipment, local field adaptation, and the September 2023 collapse that ended its institutions.
71 weapon systemsArtsakh, formally presented in its 2017 constitutional text as both the Republic of Artsakh and the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, functioned as a de facto Armenian-governed polity in Nagorno-Karabakh after the 1994 ceasefire but was not recognized by any UN member state. Freedom House describes the territory as mostly ethnic Armenian, diplomatically isolated, and dependent on close political and economic ties with Armenia.
Its military center of gravity was the Artsakh Defense Army, a Stepanakert-based force that public military analysis described before the 2023 collapse as division-size, with three motorized rifle brigades, a tank regiment, and supporting elements. The connected equipment record is therefore dominated by Soviet and Russian-origin armor, artillery, air defense, mines, and Armenian-backed wartime adaptations rather than an autonomous procurement base.
Artsakh's defense identity is inseparable from the disputed status of Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenian-linked sources commonly use Artsakh and Stepanakert, while Azerbaijani and many international or legal sources use Nagorno-Karabakh and Khankendi and frame the territory inside Azerbaijan's internationally recognized borders.
The 2020 war exposed a force built around inherited and Armenian-supported heavy equipment to a battlefield dominated by Azerbaijani UAV surveillance, loitering munitions, artillery, rockets, and air-defense suppression. Open-source loss records and human-rights investigations are strongest for systems that were destroyed, captured, abandoned, or whose munition remnants were documented, which makes them useful for presence but weaker for complete inventories.
The force also showed signs of local adaptation. Artsakh-linked reporting described assault drone testing by Defense Army specialists in 2020, and cataloged field conversions such as MT-LB carriers with anti-aircraft guns reflect a practical effort to turn available Soviet chassis and gun systems into mobile fire-support or short-range air-defense platforms.
Artsakh's final period was shaped by isolation rather than rearmament. The Lachin corridor crisis narrowed the main route between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan's September 19-20, 2023 offensive forced local armed forces into ceasefire and disarmament terms, and a September 28 decree ordered Artsakh state institutions dissolved by January 1, 2024.

Representative of the Soviet legacy armor baseline and the tank-regiment component described in public force-structure analysis.
Tanks / Main battle tank
A compact symbol of Artsakh's artillery-heavy side of the 2020 fight, tied to Armenian/Artsakh rocket-artillery losses and captures.
Artillery / 122 mm multiple rocket launcher
Highlights the high-end air-defense layer around Nagorno-Karabakh and the pressure Azerbaijani strike systems placed on fixed and semi-fixed defenses.
Air Defense / Long-range surface-to-air missile system
Shows the limited modern counter-UAV layer within an arsenal otherwise dominated by older Soviet systems.
Air Defense / Short-range surface-to-air missile system
Represents local and Armenian-side field adaptation: an available tracked carrier paired with a light anti-aircraft gun for mobile short-range fire support.
Air Defense / Tracked self-propelled anti-aircraft gun conversionThe 2017 constitutional text used Republic of Artsakh and Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh as equivalent official names and named Stepanakert as capital. The same text placed the president at the center of executive power, created a government headed by a state minister and ministers, and defined a proportional National Assembly of 27 to 33 deputies.
That formal structure existed outside international recognition. Freedom House describes the entity as de facto independent after the 1994 ceasefire but unrecognized by UN member states and heavily dependent on Armenia because of geographic and diplomatic isolation. Azerbaijani, UN-aligned, and many international legal framings treated Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity.
The Artsakh Defense Army, also described as the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army or Defense Army of the Republic of Artsakh, was the main military institution. The 2017 constitutional text put armed forces under civilian control, made the president commander-in-chief, and empowered the president to appoint and dismiss the supreme command.
Public military analysis before the September 2023 defeat described the force as headquartered in Stepanakert and organized around three motorized rifle brigades, a tank regiment, and support elements. The same analysis said the force reportedly received priority access to light arms, heavy artillery, tanks, and armored vehicles from the Armenian army, a framing that fits the combined Armenia/Artsakh conflict-side evidence used in weapon records.
Artsakh's supply chain is best understood through Armenia rather than through independent global procurement. SIPRI's assessment of arms transfers around the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict emphasizes Armenia's heavy reliance on Russian-origin major arms in the decade before the 2020 war, including armored vehicles, air-defense systems, rocket artillery, and tanks.
That does not prove separate Artsakh purchases. For side-level analysis, Armenian state procurement, inherited Soviet stocks, battlefield transfers, local operation in Nagorno-Karabakh, and Artsakh Defense Army custody have to be kept distinct unless a source directly narrows the chain.
The connected equipment pattern is heavy in armor, artillery, mines, and air defense. T-72 tanks, BMP infantry fighting vehicles, MT-LB carriers, BM-21 Grad launchers, 2S1 Gvozdika howitzers, Osa, Strela-10, Tor, Kub, and S-300-family systems point to a Soviet and Russian-origin arsenal adapted to a small mountainous battlespace.
Local adaptation appears in a narrower, better-supported form than a mature defense industry. NEWS.am reported in 2020 that assault drones designed and updated by Artsakh and Defense Army specialists had passed final testing, while cataloged MT-LB conversions with ZU-23, S-60, and Zastava M55 guns show the practical reuse of available chassis and anti-aircraft weapons for mobile air-defense and direct-fire roles.
The 2020 war made Artsakh's force structure visible largely through combat effects and losses. CSIS and Army University Press describe a battlefield in which Azerbaijani drones, loitering munitions, missiles, rocket artillery, and electronic warfare helped locate, suppress, and destroy Armenian/Artsakh armor and air defenses.
Human Rights Watch documented cluster munition use in the Karabakh conflict, including Smerch-family rockets attributed to Armenian or Nagorno-Karabakh forces, while Oryx visually recorded Armenian/Artsakh equipment destroyed, damaged, abandoned, or captured. Those sources are strong for documented presence and loss events, but they do not provide a full order of battle.
Local authorities proclaimed the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as the Soviet Union was breaking apart, beginning the state-like institutional project later branded as Artsakh.
The 1994 ceasefire left Nagorno-Karabakh under Armenian-backed de facto control while the entity remained outside international recognition.
The 2017 constitutional text treated Republic of Artsakh and Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh as identical official names and set the presidential constitutional structure.
Azerbaijan's 2020 campaign brought UAV-enabled targeting, missile and rocket strikes, armored losses, and air-defense suppression into the center of the Nagorno-Karabakh battlefield.
Obstruction of the Lachin corridor, the main road link to Armenia, created severe access, supply, and humanitarian pressure in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan's September 19-20 operation forced local Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh to accept ceasefire and disarmament terms.
A September 28, 2023 decree ordered Artsakh state institutions dissolved by January 1, 2024, ending the entity's on-the-ground institutional structure.
Artsakh evidence often passes through combined Armenia/Artsakh labels. A weapon linked to that conflict side should not be read as proof of independent Artsakh ownership unless the underlying source identifies the Artsakh Defense Army, local Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, or equipment physically located in the enclave. Place names also vary: Artsakh-linked sources commonly use Artsakh and Stepanakert, while Azerbaijani and many international sources use Nagorno-Karabakh and Khankendi.
Combined Armenia/Artsakh weapon evidence supports the reviewed conflict-side mapping, but it should not be read as proof of independent Artsakh custody unless the underlying source identifies local forces, the Artsakh Defense Army, or equipment in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Artsakh is a contested and historical side profile. Sources differ in naming, sovereignty framing, and attribution; combined Armenia/Artsakh evidence supports the reviewed conflict-side mapping but does not always prove independent Artsakh custody. Oryx-style loss records are visual datasets rather than complete inventories, SIPRI supports Armenian state supply context rather than separate Artsakh procurement, and legally loaded displacement or ethnic-cleansing terminology should be attributed to the publisher using it.
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Crewed aircraft, drones, and loitering munitions.



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Systems that contest aircraft, missiles, helicopters, and drones.



















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Troop carriers, infantry fighting vehicles, and protected mobility.







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Tube artillery, rocket artillery, and long-range ground fires.





















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Systems built to sense, relay, jam, deceive, or attack electromagnetic networks.
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Portable weapons used by soldiers and small units.









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Standalone missiles, bombs, rockets, torpedoes, and guided or unguided explosive payloads.








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Transport, logistics, recovery, command, engineering, and other enabling equipment.


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Heavy armor built around direct fire, protection, and battlefield shock.