[6] With the early outbreak of hostilities prior to 1992, Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh began forming small detachments of volunteers, often self-described as Fedayeen, inheriting the name of the fighters who actively resisted the Ottoman Empire in the final decades of the nineteenth and early decades of the twentieth centuries.
These volunteer militia would initially arm themselves with whatever was available, including hunting shotguns borrowed from local farmers and even home-made rifles.
Likewise, these units initially had no heavy military equipment, but later started taking over large quantities of Azerbaijani tanks and armored personnel carriers that were abandoned on the battlefield.
Improvization, multi-functionality, creativity, strong-morale, focus on defensive tactics, adaptation, flexibility, high-mobility and a native knowledge of the mountainous terrain were all important factors in understanding the combat success of these small units.
[citation needed] The initial purpose of these detachments, made up of volunteers, was mainly to defend Armenian civilian population, each in a particular village or town.
The increasing scale and intensity of Azerbaijani attacks, the devastation caused by Grad multiple rocket launchers firing from Shusha and the Lachin, the blockade from mainland Armenia had broadened the notion of security beyond the mere defence of a small village.
[citation needed] Mient Jan Faber argues that "August 1992 marked the watershed between purely voluntary Armenian Karabakh forces reinforced by volunteers from Armenia and an organised NKR army with its own central command and a military structure distinct from the Armenian army.
Though the war ended with the signing of a cease fire between Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh and Azerbaijan and the de facto independence of the NKR, the Azerbaijani leadership repeatedly threatened to restart hostilities to retake the region.
These clashes culminated in the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, in which the Artsakh Defence Army was defeated while fighting against the military of Azerbaijan and Turkey.
[15][16][17] In May 2021, President Arayik Harutyunyan announced planned to transform the Defense Army into a professional combat force.
[citation needed] It was formed in September 1991 by the order of the President on the basis of self-defense detachments and platoon operating in the region.
[24][25] The Yeghnikner ("The Deers") Detachment was founded on 11 March 1993 and was considered to be one of the most elite units of the army of the unrecognized republic.
It originated from a partisan unit created by Shahen Meghryan, which was formed on 25 June 1992 from self-defense detachments of the district villages.
[26][27] On 2 October 2021, President Arayik Harutyunyan conferred the title of Hero of Artsakh on the commander of the Yeghnikner unit Karen Jalavyan.
The Karabakh army's heavy military hardware included: 186[36][37] tanks, 68[36][37] armoured vehicles, 98[36][37] artillery pieces of calibres over 122mm, 44 multiple rocket launchers[36] (most likely BM-21 Grad), and an anti-aircraft defence system of an unspecified type[36] As for infantry, most relied on the AK-74 rifle and older AKMs in reserve for standard-issue rifles.
Other basic weapons consisted of Makarov PM pistols, PK machine guns, and RPG-7 rocket launchers, all mostly supplied by Armenia.