Fresh footage reveals Azerbaijan's tactic behind AN-2 deployment

PanARMENIAN.Net - Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defense, together with the country's State Border Service, has published a video, which shows two pilots jumping out of a Soviet-era AN-2 aircraft during the 44-day war in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). The detail was first spotted by Telegram channels.

Media reports during the war alleged that Azeri forces converted old AN-2s into drones, flying them over the conflict zone as apparent surface to air missile bait. Footage released during the hostilities shows the aircraft flying low and slow․

The fresh footage from Azerbaijan and media reports from Turkey reveal now that pilots lifted the plane, put it on the right course and dropped from the aircraft by parachute.

How many of these An-2 planes, commonly called the Kukuruznik (Russian for corn crop duster) have been deployed operationally and how many may have been shot down is unclear. However, the Intel Lab reported during the war that on August 28, 2020, 61 aircraft could be counted on the ground in satellite images, whereas on October 3, 2020 only 26 aircraft could be spotted.