Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian forces (Artsakh Defense Army, 1992–2023)
The armed force of the former Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian authorities — victorious in the first war, broken in the second, disarmed after the September 2023 offensive and dissolved with the entity it defended. Historical record.
Broad area of activity
Historically, the former NKAO and (until 2020) the surrounding districts. Ceased to exist as a force in September 2023.
Notable history
Formed from volunteer detachments in the first war and hardened into a conscript force with deep fortification lines during the long ceasefire, sustained in ways Yerevan and Baku each characterised differently — Armenia calling its role support, Azerbaijan calling the force an occupying arm of the Armenian military. The 2020 war destroyed its heavy equipment at scale under drone and precision strike; the blockade starved its remnant; the September 2023 offensive ended it in a day, with disarmament as the ceasefire's first term.
Strengths
Historical record — not assessed as a current force.
Limitations
Its fate is the module's clearest capability lesson: entrenchment without air defence density, unmanned systems or a secured line of supply does not survive contact with a drone-era offensive.
Lineage & institutional history
De facto Nagorno-Karabakh authorities, with documented structural integration with the Armenian Armed Forces that both governments described differently.
Key events
Second Nagorno-Karabakh War
Azerbaijan launches a full offensive and wins in 44 days — Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drones, Israeli loitering munitions and artillery mass against entrenched Armenian defences, culminating in the fall of Shusha (Shushi). Several thousand die on each side; Azerbaijan recovers the seven surrounding districts and part of the former NKAO.
Azerbaijani offensive takes Karabakh
A one-day Azerbaijani operation breaks the blockaded enclave's forces; the de facto authorities accept disarmament and dissolution talks within 24 hours. Russian peacekeepers stand aside; several of them are killed in an incident for which Baku apologises.
Campaign involvement
First Nagorno-Karabakh War
Full-scale war between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces over the former NKAO: Armenian forces take Shusha (Shushi) and open the Lachin corridor in May 1992, then in 1993 seize seven Azerbaijani districts around the enclave — condemned in four UN Security Council resolutions — while roughly 700,000 Azerbaijanis are displaced, alongside hundreds of thousands displaced between the two republics.