Yerevan/Mediamax/. Jane’s Defence Weekly reports that Azerbaijani forces used Harop/Harpy 2 unmanned aerial vehicles against Armenian positions in Nagorno-Karabakh these few days in what is believed to be the first use in an open combat role.

Jane’s notices that the footage posted on YouTube on 4 April by NKR Defense Army shows an Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) Harop/Harpy 2 UAV appear to acquire a target on the ground before crashing into it.

Jane’s reminds that the footage is confirmed by several media outlets, and according to them, the Harop destroyed a bus carrying Armenian volunteer forces near the front line.

The Harop is a ‘kamikaze’ unmanned aerial vehicle that can serve as a self-controlled plane-missile upon discovering the target. Harop is believed to have a cruising speed of 185 km/h, and a maximum range of greater than 500 km. The direct line-of-sight datalink capability enables operator control at ranges of up to 150 km.

In June 2015, IAI announced that it completed a series of flight demonstrations of the Harop for an undisclosed foreign customer.