Serbia Air Force - Modernization
n 1996 with the cessation of hostilities following the Yugoslav Wars (1991-1995) the former Yugoslavian republics agreed to the Florence Agreement on Sub-Regional Arms Control. On June 14th, 1996 the associated nations signed an arms limitation agreement to reduce, monitor and control the size of their military assets to help prevent future hostilities. Dozens of Soko G-2 Galeb, J-21 Jastreb and J-22 Orao 1 aircraft operated by Serbia and other aircraft operated by the Republika Srpska Air Force were taken out of service following this agreement with many ending up in back of the Belgrade Aeronautical Museum at the Nikola Tesla International Airport at the Serbian Air Force and Air Defence aircraft “Boneyard”.
Weapons used in air bases are the aircraft of domestic and Soviet (Russian) production. Fighter aviation consists of the Russian MiG-29 bis and MiG-21 bis, which perform the role of interceptors. Assault fighter-bomber aviation consists of the domestic production aircrafts IJ-22 Orao and G-4 Super Galeb, produced in the former Yugoslavia. Transport aviation consists of the Russian Antonov An-2, Antonov An-26 and Yakovlev Yak-40. G-4 Super Galeb and Utva 75 are used as pilot training aircrafts. Air reconnaissance is performed by MiG-21M and IJ-22 Orao (visual reconnaissance and aerial photo shoot). Helicopter units are made up of the helicopter type SA-342 Gazela, licensed to be produced in SOKO factory, in the former SFRY, the Russian gunships Mi-24, Mi-8 and Mi- 17, functioning as transport, reconnaissance and light fire support.
After Montenegro's independence in 2006, Serbia inherited 31 aircraft of which 14 Orao attack aircraft J-22, 7 2-seater NJ-22, 8 Scouts IJ-22 and two seater INJ-22. Since then they lost three J-22 in accidents, of which two were relatively recently overhauled. Two single-seat fighters were in the meantime written off. By 2016 many Eagles were never going to fly aagain, that was the case with two J-22, IJ-22 two and one-INJ-22. As for the age of the remaining aircraft, the J-22 were produced between January 1985 and May 1992, two-seater NJ-22 in the period from November 1988 to April 1991, scouts IJ-22 from January 1981 to July 1984 and the INJ-22 April 1982 and October 1983. The lifetime is estimated at 24 years or 3000 hours of flight time. There were major problems with logistics, especially with the procurement and provision of spare parts. This problem affected the overhaul at the Aeronautical Institute Moma Stanojlovic.
Serbia had taken an interest in Russia's Tor, Pantsir and Buk air defense systems and Mikoyan MiG-29 fighters, the newspaper Kommersant wrote on 15 January 2016. The Serbian request will be processed at the new Russian-Serbian commission for military-technical cooperation, it said. Andrei Boitsov, First Deputy Director of the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC), is the Russian co-chair of the commission, which will meet for the first time before the end of January, the newspaper wrote.
The Serbian army "is interested in intermediate-range [Buk and Tor] and short-range (Pantsir-S1) air defense systems," Kommersant said. The supply of S-300 air defense missile systems was not discussed at a meeting held by Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Rogozin, in Belgrade, because the Serbian defense budget could not afford such purchases, the newspaper said.
Belgrade made its request to Moscow after Croatia had expressed the wish to arm itself with MGM-140 ATACMS operative-tactical missiles operating on a range of 300 kilometers. "The Serbian army decided that the appearance of such weapons in the Balkans would alter the balance of regional forces but those who were urging them to join NATO did nothing to help. So, they had to turn to us," a source told the newspaper Kommersant wrote .
Two new Mi-17-V5 helicopters officially handed over Jul 8, 2016 to the Serbian Air Force at Batajnica Air Base military air base at the airport "Nikola Tesla" in Serbia. The ceremony in Batajnica was led by commander of air force and air defence, major general Ranko Zivak who has saluted the crew of the first Mi-17 V5 helicopter. According to the commander of the 890 combined helicopter squadron, lieutenant colonel Miroslav Zecevic, the new aircrafts will improve operational capability and training of his unit. “Now our goal is to retrain pilots and technical personnel in order to use fully this type of helicopters. This will be the main task in the first half of the next year,” the commander of the squadron said. The agreement for the manufacturing and supply of helicopters, signed between Serbia and Russia in September 2015, was fulfilled on time. It also provided for retraining pilots of the Serbian Air Force and technical personnel that will be carried out by the Russian side.
The light attack and training aircraft Galeb and the twin-engine, subsonic ground-attack and reconnaissance aircraft Soko J-22 Orao, known for being the first in the history of Yugoslav aviation to overcome the sound barrier, are set for some upgrades soon. “We need to modernize Orao to support land units and as a means of distance fighting,” head of the defense technologies department at the Serbian Defense Ministry Major-General Dr. Bojan Zrnic said 28 March 2017.
He further said that since from a technical point of view the process of modernization of Galeb differs little from the modernization of Orao, the ministry is close to deciding on the fighter jets first. According to the head, presently they are awaiting the final decision, as modernization of Orao will include the development of new types of air weapons operating on a principle of standoff.
Serbia has no intention of buying Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems. This was stated on 05 NOvember 2019 on national television RTS by President of the Republic Aleksandar Vucic. When asked about possible U.S. sanctions if Belgrade acquired the S-400, he replied: “What I saw is an impressive weapon. We have no intention of buying [the S-400 system], since we do not have money to pay for her, given the construction of highways and numerous projects."
“You know, when you have such a weapon, no one will attack you anymore. Where the S-400 is, neither American pilots nor any others fly: Israeli pilots fly over Turkey or Syria except the Golan Heights “We have aviation - stronger than ever, we will strengthen the air defense with shells and other things that are not on the sanctions list,” the president said.
“Serbia is a small country surrounded on all sides by NATO. You could see what we want from the reaction to the S-400. We intend to build relations with everyone, but we will not be a Bambi fawn, which anyone can swallow when it comes to his mind “Never again will I allow myself such irresponsibility as in the 90s of the XX century - to be so weak,” he stressed.
Earlier, Vucich attended the Slavic Shield-2019 exercises, during which he examined the anti-aircraft missile battalion of the S-400 systems and the battery of the Pantsir-S systems of the Russian Armed Forces. After that, he expressed the hope that Serbia would one day be able to afford such a complex. Russian-Serbian air defense exercises "Slavic shield - 2019" were held for the first time and consisted of two stages. The first was held in September in the Astrakhan region on the basis of the Center for Combat Training and Combat Use of the Aerospace Forces (VKS) of the Russian Federation. At the second stage, units of the S-400 anti-aircraft missile system and the VKS Pantsir-S anti-aircraft missile and gun systems, as well as the Neva-M1T and Kub-M anti-aircraft missile systems of the Air Force and Air Defense of Serbia took part in the maneuvers.
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