THE ROLE OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES (UAVs) IN MODERN ARMED CONFLICTS: TACTICAL, STRATEGIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

This article analyses the role of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in modern armed conflicts from tactical, strategic, and technological perspectives. It examines UAV classification frameworks, their employment in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, precision strike operations, and electronic warfare (EW) environments. Drawing on case studies from the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War and the ongoing Ukraine conflict (2022–2024), the paper investigates how UAVs are reshaping contemporary military doctrine. The study employs comparative analysis and open-source military data from IISS, SIPRI, and NATO publications. The principal finding is that UAVs have become a central element of modern warfare, fundamentally transforming traditional military doctrine and creating a strategic imperative for investment in counter-UAV (C-UAS) systems.