Azerbaijan Deploys Bayraktar Drones in Nakhchivan

On June 23, Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defense released photographs from tactical exercises held between the Nakhchivan separate combined arms army and the Turkish Armed Forces from June 21-23. The images show that Azerbaijan has deployed Bayraktar TB2 drones at the recently inaugurated airfield in Nakhchivan, according to razm.info.

The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense reported that during the exercises, the Chairman of the Supreme Assembly of Nakhchivan, Vasif Talibov, met with military personnel who have undergone training on Bayraktar TB2 UAVs in Turkey. Razm.info has previously indicated, based on open-source intelligence and satellite imagery analysis, that the airfield adjacent to Nakhchivan International Airport was already operational and fully completed prior to the 2020 war.

In total, eight hangars, parking areas, ancillary buildings, and one runway were constructed for the maintenance of helicopters and aircraft. The inauguration of the airfield on May 10, 2021, was linked to a visit by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

While we cannot confirm whether the four Bayraktar drones visible during the exercises will be permanently stationed in Nakhchivan, it is noteworthy that due to the developed network of air bases and launching pads in Azerbaijan, these UAVs can be operated operationally from various parts of the country as needed.

Earlier, in an article titled “Where Bayraktar TB2 Drones Are Permanently Stationed in Azerbaijan”, we noted that the first known permanent location for the Bayraktars is the airport in Yevlakh, which also hosts one of Azerbaijan’s UAV centers. During the war, Bayraktar TB2 drones were seen there, and we provided more details about this base in the article “Unlaunched Missiles No. 3: What Targets Did the Iskander Have?”.

The next permanent deployment site is the Dallari airbase, located about 6 km northwest of the city of Shamkhir, which we also discussed in the article “Turkey's Participation in the War: Part B. Drones.” This base was inherited by Azerbaijan from the Soviet era, but significant reconstruction work was carried out there during 2020, particularly in the summer. Unlike Yevlakh, where new hangars are being built for the permanent stationing of Bayraktar TB2s, existing hangars built during the Soviet period have been refurbished and fortified.