The military conflicts of the new millennium are manifesting themselves as conventional conflicts, supplemented by various modes of military and non-military action. One of the key drivers enabling changes in combat tactics is the development of technologies which underpin the development of advanced capabilities. A case in point was the war in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, where one side, through the innovative use of unmanned aerial systems, achieved an advantage for which the other side was unprepared. A case study of the war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in 2020, focusing on the use of unmanned aerial systems, shows that the innovative use of the new technology helped defeat the enemy. The results of the study confirm that the key advantage of the new technology is to shorten the process of observation, orientation, decision-making and action (OODA), as a basic advantage over an adversary with a conventional approach. This means that conventional defence forces must upgrade their weapon systems and tactics of operation with unmanned aerial systems in order to be able to play their role in an armed conflict effectively.
